Oleg Penkovski |

According to some, he saved humanity from the Third World War

He is considered one of the most famous characters of the spy stories of the Cold War era. Oleg Penkovsky, a colonel of the USSR Central Intelligence Agency, a distinguished officer in the Second World War, who has a close relationship with many high-ranking military personnel, is also USA and Great Britain was a spy working for the intelligence agency.

But unlike other famous characters, his personality, the role he played and what he gave information the debates around it do not subside. According to some, he saved humanity from the Third World War, according to others, he gave information it didn’t matter, and third parties claim that he wasn’t even a real traitor.

Indeed, despite the fact that more than 30 years have passed since the collapse of the USSR, and more than 60 years have passed since the spy scandal itself, there are still some dark moments and unanswered questions in the Penkovsky case.

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Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky was born in 1919 in Vladikavkaz. Although it is said that he was left without a father when he was still an infant, it is often not revealed who his father was and under what circumstances he died. Only some sources claim that his father was an Aguardian officer and was killed in a battle with the Bolsheviks during the Civil War. If this is true, then the first question arises: how did someone whose father was an Aghvardist end up in a country like the USSR that cares about the issue of origin? military held an important position in intelligence? Although, maybe, this about his father information is wrong.

Two years after graduating high school Kyiv in artillery school education Alan Oleg started serving in the army in 1939. In 1939, he participated in the Polish campaign of the Soviet army and in the Winter War against Finland. He spends the first two years of the Soviet-German war away from the front, in Moscow military circle Political In the office and Military He holds various positions in the council. In 1943-1944, he first commanded the anti-tank battalion, then the regiment.

At the end of the war, an event took place that would play an important role in Penkovsky’s future career: he became the 1st Ukraine artillery commander of the front general– becomes an aide to Colonel Sergey Varentsov. Penkovsky, who was wounded twice during the battles and was awarded a number of orders and medals, finished the war with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In the same year, deputy commander of the Moscow military district general-marries Vera, the 17-year-old daughter of Lieutenant Dmitri Gapanovich.

After the war, at the Frunze Military Academy, and later at the military-diplomatic academy education takes The last one education the institution trained military diplomats and military intelligence officers. Our hero learns English perfectly here along with intelligence.

At the age of 30, Penkovsky, who was given the rank of colonel, began to serve in military intelligence – the General Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Soviet army in 1953. He was sent to Turkey in 1955. Officially, he held the position of assistant to the military attaché of the Soviet embassy, ​​but in reality he held the powers of the resident of the GRU execution was doing

This mission was unsuccessful for Penkovski, he did not go with the military attaché, who was his immediate superior, moreover, he was caught by an employee of the embassy while trying to sell jewelry to Turks in the market. The colonel, who was recalled to Moscow, was removed from the GRU and sent to the command of the Ministry of Defense.

But after some time it is restored to GRU again. It is believed that he was helped in this work by his old acquaintance, Sergey Varentsov, the artillery commander and artillery marshal of the Ground Forces at that time (his father-in-law Gapanovich died in 1952).

In 1959, Penkovsky became the main candidate for the position of military attaché of the Soviet embassy in India (at the same time, the resident of the GRU in this country). But at the last moment the preference is given to someone else. Later, when investigating the reason for his betrayal of his country, this event is shown as one of the main possibilities.

Instead, in 1960, he was appointed deputy chairman of the foreign relations department of the State Committee on Science and Technology under the USSR Council of Ministers. One of the tasks of this institution was scientific and technical espionage, attracting foreign scientists invited to the USSR to cooperate and receiving information from them. This is why the GRU officer was appointed to a high position in the committee. But while holding this position, Penkovski was busy passing on secrets instead of learning secrets.

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Penkovsky’s contact with Western intelligence was initiated by himself. In June 1960, he approached two American tourists USA it is claimed that he sent a letter to the embassy. But the Americans did not risk contacting him.

A little earlier, on May 1, over Sverdlovsk USA‘s U-2 spy plane shot down and pilot Gary Powers captive was taken. This incident caused serious tension between the two states, on May 16, four states (USA, Great Britain, France and USSR) summit scheduled to be held in Paris was disrupted. It is possible that American diplomats did not want to contact Penkovsky and cause a new possible scandal for this very reason.

The first failure does not discourage Penkovsky and he makes further attempts. These attempts are also known to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Seeing the reluctance of the embassy, ​​scouts for help Britain intelligence (MI-6). The British also agreed to establish contact with businessman Greville Vinnie Penkowski, who was engaged in the sale of industrial goods to socialist countries. Winn, who came to Moscow in the fall of 1960, met with the colonel and held certain negotiations.

The main meeting took place in April 1961 during Penkovsky’s visit to London. Here, Oleg Vladimirovich, who met with two Mi-6 and two CIA agents through Winn’s mediation, agreed on the methods and conditions of cooperation. Penkovsky is given a Minox camera to take pictures of classified documents, and is told which ways and how to contact him, etc. In the future, he is promised the citizenship of one of the two countries. With this, Penkovsky’s short but productive career begins.

At that time, the main field in which the USA and the USSR competed was missiles. The Americans, who did not have serious sources of intelligence in the USSR, assumed that they were far behind the Russians in this area. But Penkovsky’s data revealed the complete opposite: the Russians were far behind in both the number and technical characteristics of their missiles.

It is said that this information played a significant role in making the Americans more confident and assertive during the Caribbean crisis caused by Moscow’s attempt to deploy its missiles in Cuba, and in not backing down in the face of Soviet threats. On the other hand, Penkovsky’s data reveals that it took a long time for Soviet missiles to be ready for combat. This allows US President Kennedy to abandon the plan to launch airstrikes on Cuba immediately and to act more cautiously. It is precisely this factor that is meant when it is said that Penkovsky saved humanity from the Third World War.

It is alleged that he passed 111 photographic films to the West during his espionage activities, which lasted for about a year and a half. 5500 documents consisting of 7650 pages were photographed on these films. In addition, he passes on information about what is happening in the upper echelons of the Soviet government to the Anglo-Saxons.

Penkovsky is said to have “enlightened” more than 600 Soviet intelligence officers working in various countries. But the remarkable point here is that it is not clear which Soviet intelligence officer “burned” because of his betrayal. Usually, the list of intelligence officers and spies captured is not secret. For example, as a result of the betrayal of Igor Guzenko, the coder of the Soviet embassy in Canada, it is known that those who passed the atomic secrets of the USA to the USSR and others were exposed. Or, thanks to the information of Aldridge Ames, a CIA employee who began to pass information to the Russians in 1985, the names of Soviet citizens arrested for spying for the United States are not a secret. Regarding Penkovski, there is no concreteness in this field.

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Oleg Penkovski’s espionage took only a year and a half. According to the Soviet version, he in Moscow While meeting Anna Chisholm, the wife of an employee of the British Embassy, ​​she fell under the “radar” of the KGB officers while passing on information. According to another version, it is the United States National Captured by Jack Dunlap, a Soviet spy working for the National Security Agency (NSA). In any case, since the spring of 1962, the KGB has been keeping Penkovsky under control.

Colonel immediately imprisonment The official Soviet version explains the lack of it by collecting evidence and monitoring their connections. According to the opposite version, this was to create the impression that the arrest took place not on the basis of information from America, but on the basis of an operative operation (surveillance). To monitor Penkovsky, a camera is placed on the balcony above his apartment, surveillance is carried out from the opposite building, and his every step is monitored.

In the fall, Penkovski’s visit to the United States was planned, but this could not be allowed, because he might not return. A certain substance is first injected into the colonel’s underwear, resulting in rashes on his groin. He ends up in the hospital, and so naturally travels to the US cancellation is being At that time, his house was also searched and material evidence was found.

On October 22, shortly after Oleg Penkovsky was discharged from the hospital imprisonment and gave confessional statements from the very first day. So did Greville Winn, who was in Hungary at the time imprisonment was brought to Moscow. On May 7-11, 1963, the trial of the couple took place.

It is interesting that the Soviet leadership wanted this trial to be held in public. It’s true, they didn’t let anyone who wanted their heart into the hall. In case any unexpected event could happen, the people here were civil-clothed employees of special services. But the event, in any case, was not covered up, it was covered in the press. court shooting was shown in cinemas. At this time, Penkovski’s eloquent speech and his free behavior are noticeable. It is believed that he was promised a light sentence if he “behaved well” in court.

But court He sentenced Penkovsky to death by firing squad. His request for forgiveness USSR Ali It was immediately rejected by the Presidium of the Soviet, and the sentence was executed on May 16. It was a rare practice in the post-Stalin era to carry out the death sentence so quickly. Greville Wynne was sentenced to 8 years in prison, but he was replaced 11 months later by Konon Molodi, a Soviet intelligence officer who was imprisoned in Britain.

Sergey Varentsov, who owned Penkovsky and helped restore him to the GRU, was removed from his post in March 1963, his rank was from Chief Artillery Marshal general-reduced to major. He was even deprived of the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

GRU with a similar fate chief Ivan Serov and his first deputy Alexander Rogov faced each other. Both lost their positions, their ranks were reduced to major general (Serov was an army general, Rogov was a colonel general). Serov was also deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Ivan Serov had known Nikita Khrushchev since the war years and formed a close relationship. After Khrushchev came to power, in 1954, Serov became the head of the KGB, and in 1958, the head of the GRU. chief had appointed. The general was considered loyal to the first secretary. According to many, Khrushchev undermined the branch he sat on by removing Serov, because if Serov had remained chairman of the GRU, it would have been more difficult, if not impossible, to overthrow Khrushchev.