Weekly “Arguments and facts” № 35. What is the future of Siberia? 01/09/2021
After the sudden death of Alexander Korotkov 60 & nbsp; years have passed, but & nbsp; until & nbsp; the names of some of its agents have not been & nbsp; nbsp; declassified.
Major General Korotkov was awarded the Order of Lenin, Six (!) Orders of the Red Flag, the Order of Patriotic War I & nbsp; degree, two Orders of the Red Star and & nbsp; others.
Modest lanky 18-year-old boy from Moscow, apprentice of an electrician, fatherless, Sasha Korotkov by & nbsp; 1927 mastered the 'bourgeois' tennis. Sparring partners on the courts of the Dynamo he had of & nbsp; Cheka. And & nbsp; in the fall of 1928, assistant to the vice president of the OGPU Benjamin Gerson offered him a job at & nbsp; Lubyanka. To start & nbsp; & mdash; an electromechanic for & nbsp; elevators in the & nbsp; sales department. & nbsp;
& # 39; A corpse in a & nbsp; suitcase '
No & nbsp; and & nbsp; years have passed since Alexander was already working in the & nbsp; legendary Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It turned out that in addition to being in excellent physical shape, he also had a & nbsp; ability to & nbsp; languages. They began to prepare Korotkov for the & nbsp; illegal work abroad.
In 1933 Long (the first operational pseudonym of Korotkov) & nbsp; & mdash; already illegal in & nbsp; Paris. According to the & nbsp; legend, it & nbsp; Czech Karl Roshetsky from Austria, came to study at the Sorbonne. There he successfully attempted to recruit French officers. But & nbsp; once it was almost & nbsp; caught, so out of danger, the officer was sent back to & nbsp; Moscow. However, already in 1936 he was working under diplomatic cover at the USSR trade mission in Germany. It 'long' obtained invaluable information on new German military technologies. In & nbsp; in particular, information about & nbsp; artificial rubber, synthetic gasoline, radar. & Nbsp;
The post from Czech Sorbonne student Karl Roshetsky. He is the intelligence officer of the council A. Korotkov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
In & nbsp; 1937 he was again in & nbsp; France. All the nuances of Korotkov's work in & nbsp; this period is not & nbsp; disclosed up to & nbsp; now. It is only known that the scout entered the group engaged in the search and elimination of traitors and enemies of the USSR. One of the targets of the liquidators was a former NKVD employee and resident of INO OGPU in Iran Georgy Agabekov. It & nbsp; in & nbsp; 1930 & nbsp; g. fled in & nbsp; Belgium, then settled in & nbsp; France, where he published a book, in which he passed the Iranian link of Soviet intelligence. After Agabekov's revelations, arrests and executions began. He was liquidated in Paris, lured to a safe house. “ An activist, a former Turkish army officer and & nbsp; the illegal young Korotkov, & nbsp; & mdash; narrated in & nbsp; his book on & nbsp; & bdquo; king of illegal immigrants & ldquo; Theodor Gladkov . & mdash; & nbsp; The Turk killed Agabekov with a knife, after which the body was stuffed into a & nbsp; suitcase, which was thrown in the & nbsp; river. The corpse has never been & nbsp; has never been found.
At the very end of the 1930s, Korotkov was appointed deputy head of the 1st Foreign Intelligence Department. His new alias & nbsp; & mdash; Stepanov. End of August 1940, by order of Beria , he went to & nbsp; Berlin. The main task of & nbsp; & mdash; re-establish contact with & nbsp; residence, put on hold in & nbsp; 1936 & ndash; 1938 & nbsp; Legal coverage & nbsp; & mdash; the post of 3rd Secretary of the USSR Plenipotentiary in & nbsp; Germany. & nbsp;
To & nbsp; 'Mistress' with & nbsp; radio
Korotkov managed to find a government adviser to the Imperial Ministry of Economy Arvid Harnak (“ Corsican & # 39; & # 39;) and & # 39; nbsp; his wife Mildred (“ Japanese woman ''). On the & nbsp; communications and & nbsp; senior officer of the Luftwaffe intelligence department Harro Schulze-Boysen ('Sergeant Major'). These people still held important positions and were well informed. Stepanov I was surprised to learn that in the underground group of & nbsp; Harnack and & nbsp; Schulze-Boysen there are more than 60 & nbsp; people. This Berlin spine of the Red Chapel will be destroyed a year after the start of the war. But & nbsp; they will have time to pass on a lot of valuable information. For example, thanks to the 'Petty Officer' Korotkov learned that the US Air Force attaché working in & nbsp; & nbsp; & mdash; Hitler & # 39; s spy .
Separately, it is worth talking about the agent “ Breitenbach & # 39; & # 39; & nbsp; & mdash; Hauptsturmführer & nbsp; SS, Gestapo officer Willie Lehmane , which is considered the main prototype of Stirlitz. Korotkov was the only one of & nbsp; all Soviet intelligence officers who knew him in & nbsp; face, & nbsp; & mdash; the others were shot or suppressed. From & nbsp; Leman Korotkov learned the details of the secret reorganization of the Nazi special services. The scout here corrected and & nbsp; secure the activities of his subordinates as much as possible.
In the second half of June 1941 for the & # 39; & # 39; Corse & # 39; & # 39; and & nbsp; his groups started sending radios, codes, codes, money from diplomatic mail. But & nbsp; Korotkov failed to transfer them. On the night of June 22, the Soviet Embassy building in Berlin was cordoned off by SS. The only diplomat who was allowed to leave, and & nbsp; then & nbsp; only in & nbsp; the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and & nbsp; in & nbsp; accompanied by the head of embassy security, an SS officer & nbsp; Heinemann , was Valentin Berezhkov … It & nbsp; and & nbsp; helped to negotiate with & nbsp; Heinemann for & nbsp; 1 & nbsp; thousand. stamps. The SS officer twice, on 22 & nbsp; and & nbsp; 24 & nbsp; June, released 'Stepanov' in & nbsp; city. Allegedly, he had to urgently say goodbye to & nbsp; his German mistress before being exiled to the & nbsp; Union. The German dropped off the scout near the metro and picked him up two hours later at another location. Korotkov managed to convey to the 'Corsican' and & nbsp; “ Sergeant Major '' all sent by Center. & nbsp;
Behind & nbsp; Keitel's back
A train with & nbsp; of the interned Soviet diplomats arrived at & nbsp; Moscow in & nbsp; July 1941. Korotkov headed the German Foreign Intelligence Department, which was responsible for the influx of intelligence officers to Germany. It & nbsp; no & nbsp; only participated in & nbsp; the creation of a special school for the training of agents, but & nbsp; and & nbsp; taught future illegal immigrants.
In & nbsp; November-December 1943 & nbsp; g. Colonel Korotkov, in & nbsp; as part of the Soviet delegation, was at & nbsp; Tehran, where Stalin , Roosevelt and & nbsp; Churchill . There he managed to send several agents across Bulgaria to Germany. One of them got a job at the factory of Me.262 fighter developer, aircraft designer Willie Messerschmitt . The second managed to take a stand in the company of the German missile creator Wernher von Braun .
But he received the most important task in the spring of 1945. Korotkov summoned the Deputy People's Commissar for State Security to & nbsp; Ivan Serov and & nbsp; responsible for leading a group on & nbsp; ensure the safety of the German delegation, which will arrive in & nbsp; Karlshorst to sign the deed of & nbsp; Germany's unconditional surrender. “ If its leader, Field Marshal Keitel, throws a number or refuses to put your signature, you will respond with your head. During contacts with & nbsp; try to feel his moods and & nbsp; n & nbsp; n & nbsp; ignore important information that, perhaps, will do & nbsp; drop & raquo ;, & nbsp; & mdash; Serov reprimanded. In the & nbsp; famous photograph, which captured the moment of the signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany, Korotkov stands behind the & nbsp; back of Keitel . & Nbsp;
Suspiciously suddenly
In March 1946, Korotkov was recalled to & nbsp; Center, where it & nbsp; became the deputy chief of foreign intelligence and & nbsp; at the same time directed its illegal administration. It & nbsp; was directly related to the & nbsp; referral to & nbsp; United States of an illegal William Fischer , better known as Rudolph Abel . By the way, Korotkov was against sending a radio operator Renault Heikhanen with him, who ultimately handed Abel over to the Americans. About the operational instinct of the king of illegal immigrants there were legends. And & nbsp; he & nbsp; and & nbsp; he himself worked with & nbsp; legends: he personally prepared Konon Molodoy for departure, supervised the activities of the spouses-scouts Coens . & Nbsp;
Later he led the Berlin KGB apparatus. A & nbsp; 27 & nbsp; June 1961 & nbsp; g. Alexander Korotkov, 50, who was sick of nothing, died suddenly. In & nbsp;, close circles then discussed how suspicious this is. “ In the morning, Alexander Mikhailovich was received by the president of the KGB Shelepin . He was not satisfied with Korotkov and & nbsp; announced & nbsp; his reminder of & nbsp; Berlin, & nbsp; & mdash; recalled SVR veteran retired Colonel Ivan Kuzmin … & mdash; & nbsp; When leaving & nbsp; his office, Korotkov called a car and & nbsp; traveled to & nbsp; the Khrushchev apartment, where he was received by Nina Petrovna . From there by & nbsp; phone & bdquo; HF & ldquo; he & nbsp; called Walter Ulbricht and & nbsp; asked for his intercession. Ulbricht immediately contacted & nbsp; Khrushchev and & nbsp; asked to leave Korotkov for & nbsp; work at & nbsp; Berlin. Khrushchev agreed and gave Shelepin the appropriate instructions. Korotkov returned home, told his wife to pack her things and & nbsp; in the evening met at & nbsp; tennis court with & nbsp; the former KGB chief Serov. After a few minutes of play, he lost consciousness. The official diagnosis & nbsp; & mdash; ruptured aorta. The Erich Mielke who created the Stasi took Korotkov's death as a personal blow. It & nbsp; with & nbsp; colleagues from & nbsp; MGB of the GDR was in the & nbsp; funeral, at & nbsp; unlike & nbsp; Shelepin. During each visit to & nbsp; Moscow, Milke came with flowers to & nbsp; Novodevichy cemetery at the & nbsp; Korotkov's grave.