The history of Russian military intelligence began about 500 years ago, when under Ivan the Terrible a unified state was formed and the beginnings of a regular army appeared. Military intelligence took shape as a separate institution in 1654, when Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich established the Order of Secret Affairs. In 1716, military intelligence activities were enshrined in the Military Regulations and acquired a legal basis.

The impetus for the development of the intelligence service in the Russian Empire was the political intrigues of European monarchies and constant wars on the continent. The colossal importance of military intelligence was realized by the Russian elite during the Patriotic War. In 1812, a Special Chancellery appeared under the Minister of War.

The strategic enemy of the Russian Empire until the beginning of the 20th century was Great Britain, whose intelligence was the best in the world for hundreds of years. In the 1920s, against the backdrop of confrontation with the West, the Soviet leadership made great efforts to create an extensive intelligence network abroad. By the mid-1930s, the USSR not only leveled the situation, but also began to outplay the British on their own field.

An indicator of Moscow's success was the case of the so-called Cambridge Five - five agents recruited by Soviet intelligence officer Arnold Deitch. Agents penetrated the kingdom's intelligence and diplomatic structures and even Buckingham Palace. Soviet military intelligence officers made a huge contribution to the defeat of Nazism and to containing the United States during the Cold War. 692 military intelligence officers were awarded the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Russian Federation.

History of the GRU

Before the Great Patriotic War, the body responsible for managing military intelligence changed its name several times. On February 6, 1942, Joseph Stalin signed an order to rename the department into the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU GSh). General military training of officers was carried out at the Ryazan Airborne School and at the Kiev Combined Arms Command School. The Military Diplomatic Academy of the USSR Ministry of Defense was responsible for the special training of GRU officers.

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Military intelligence is often confused with foreign intelligence, which in the USSR was handled by the 1st Main Directorate of the KGB. In Russia, foreign intelligence is the competence of the SVR, which since October 5, 2016 has been headed by Sergei Naryshkin, who replaced Mikhail Fradkov in this post.

The head of the GRU since January 2016 is Lieutenant General Igor Korobov. He reports directly to Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. At the same time, the head of the GRU has no direct connection with the political leadership - with the exception of the president, that is, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The primary tasks of the GRU include collecting and processing data on the armed forces of foreign states, as well as informing the leadership. Military intelligence officers use a wide range of technical equipment: listening devices, cameras, a variety of radar and hydroacoustic equipment, satellites, and computer technology. Another way to obtain information is recruitment and work with agents.

According to the nature of the tasks, military intelligence is divided into strategic, tactical and operational. Strategic intelligence collects information hundreds and thousands of kilometers from state borders. Tactical - observation, wiretapping. Its functions also include interrogation and reconnaissance in force. Operational reconnaissance is focused on studying the area of ​​proposed combat operations and assessing the enemy’s military power.

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The activities of the GRU are completely secret. The public knows nothing about the size of the department, the number of operations performed and the costs of its maintenance. The only person who has disclosed information about domestic military intelligence is a former employee of the legal station of the USSR GRU in Geneva, author of the books “Icebreaker” and “Aquarium”, defector Vladimir Rezun, known in literary circles as Viktor Suvorov. In the mid-1990s, information appeared in the media that Rezun was sentenced to death in absentia for his activities.

Restored Potential

Intelligence historian and writer Gennady Sokolov, in a conversation with RT, noted that Soviet and Russian military intelligence officers have earned great respect from colleagues from Western countries. “Officers involved in military intelligence are professionals of the highest class who do their job regardless of political intricacies. Military intelligence operates in all branches of the military and is subordinate to Moscow (meaning the GRU. - RT),” Sokolov emphasized.

The expert noted that military intelligence is the customer and operator of high-tech products, which are then used in the civilian sector (microchips, photo and video cameras, telephone communications, IT systems, satellite navigation systems). Military intelligence is, in a sense, a catalyst for Russian scientific and technological progress.

Sokolov stated that in the 1990s, the potential of Russian military intelligence decreased significantly. However, its large-scale regeneration soon began. “I believe that today our country has regained lost ground. If you read the analytics, the West has also lost a lot and is now hastily catching up,” Sokolov told RT.

He recalled that in the 1990s, intelligence units focused on collecting information about Russia in NATO member countries were disbanded, and the most experienced personnel retired. In the 2000s, no changes occurred and serious attention was still not paid to the Russian Federation. “Our GRU and SVR have been working very rhythmically and purposefully for the last 15 years. In view of the current confrontation with the West, I think that it is not us who have more work, but theirs,” the expert noted.

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“Military intelligence is a costly business for the economy. In the 1930s, when we celebrated our brilliant successes, the economy was, to put it mildly, not in the best condition. We always face a difficult choice, and we make it in favor of defensive capabilities. We Russians are ready to live on bread and water, as long as our army is the strongest in the world. Russia is in an extremely vulnerable geopolitical position. From the point of view of resources, we are a tasty morsel, and they will always try to weaken us,” Gennady Sokolov is sure.

Alexey Zakvasin

SVR of Russia The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR of Russia) is an integral part of the security forces and is designed to protect the security of individuals, society and the state from external threats. The SVR carries out intelligence activities in order to: provide the President of the Russian Federation, the Federal Assembly and the Government with the intelligence information they need to make decisions in the political, economic, military-strategic, scientific, technical and environmental fields; ensuring conditions conducive to the successful implementation of the Russian Federation's security policy; promoting economic development, scientific and technological progress of the country and military-technical security of the Russian Federation.

Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Mikhail Efimovich Fradkov Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation. Born on September 1, 1950 in the Kuibyshev region. Graduated from the Moscow Machine Tool Institute and the Academy of Foreign Trade. Since 1973, he worked in the office of the economic adviser at the USSR Embassy in India. After finishing his trip abroad in 1975, he worked for more than 15 years in senior positions in the system of the USSR State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations (GKES) and the USSR Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations. Since May 2000, First Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, has been in charge of economic security issues. In March 2001, he headed the Federal Tax Police Service. On March 5, 2004, approved by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. On October 9, 2007, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was appointed Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Candidate of Economic Sciences, has the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Speaks English and Spanish.

Structure List of structural divisions of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia: - Office of the Director; - Protocol department; - Academy of SVR (AVR); - Bureau of Public Relations and Media (Press Bureau); - Operational departments; - Department of Analysis and Information; - Department of Foreign Counterintelligence; - Department of Informatics; - Scientific and technological revolution management; - Operational equipment department; - Economic Intelligence Department; - Operation and support service.

Directions Five main directions of intelligence: 1. Political; 2.Economic; 3.Defense; 4. Scientific and technical; 5.Ecological. In the field of political intelligence, the SVR faces the following tasks: - Obtaining proactive information about the policies of major countries in the international arena, especially in relation to Russia; - Protecting the national interests of the country; - Monitoring the development of crisis situations in “hot spots” of the planet that could pose a threat to the national security of the country; - Obtaining information about attempts by individual countries to create new types of weapons, especially nuclear weapons, that could pose a threat to the territory of Russia and the CIS countries; -Providing active assistance in the implementation of Russian foreign policy. In the field of economic intelligence, the SVR is faced with the tasks of protecting the economic interests of Russia, obtaining secret information about the reliability of our country’s trade and economic partners, the activities of international economic and financial organizations that affect the interests of Russia, and ensuring the economic security of the country. In terms of scientific and technical intelligence, the tasks of the Foreign Intelligence Service are to obtain the latest achievements in the field of science and technology, especially military technologies that help strengthen the country's defense capability.

Powers 1. Establishing, on a confidential basis, cooperative relationships with persons who voluntarily consented to this; 2. Implementation of measures to encrypt personnel and organize its activities using other departmental affiliations for these purposes; 3. Use for the purpose of secrecy of documents encrypting the identity of personnel, departmental affiliation of units, organizations, premises and vehicles of the foreign intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation; 4. Interaction with intelligence and counterintelligence services of foreign states in the manner established by this Federal Law; 5.Creation of organizational structures (divisions and organizations) necessary for the functioning of foreign intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation.

Personnel Service of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia To make a decision on the possibility of considering a citizen as a candidate for military service (work) in the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia, he must submit: 1. personally completed application forms (main and additional); 2.color photograph size 4x6; 3.photocopy of passport (pages with photo and registration); 4.photocopies of the diploma of received professional education and its supplement; 5. A photocopy of an extract from the grade book (for persons who do not have completed professional education). The specified documents must be sent by registered mail by Russian Post to the address: Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, PO Box 510, Main Post Office, Moscow, or personally transferred to the Press Bureau of the SVR of Russia, located at the address: Moscow, st. Ostozhenka, 51/10.

Academy of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service The Academy of Foreign Intelligence is a higher specialized educational institution that provides training and advanced training for officers of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service and other special services, scientific and pedagogical personnel, conducting research and methodological work on specialized topics. Persons, citizens of Russia, ready to serve their Fatherland, with a higher education, under the age of 30, physically healthy, with the ability to study foreign languages ​​and a sufficient level of general educational, political, scientific and technical training and general culture. Suitability for study is determined by a number of criteria, the most important of which are considered: patriotism; awareness of intention to work in intelligence; a high level of general educational and cultural preparation, a broad outlook, the ability to logically express one’s thoughts in written and oral form; good health and good physical fitness.

Press Bureau of the SVR To inform the public about its activities and maintain contact with public associations, the media (mass media) and citizens, a Press Bureau has been created within the structure of the SVR. The press bureau is headed by a director, Sergey Nikolaevich Ivanov, who reports directly to the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service. The Press Bureau holds press conferences, briefings, film and video screenings for media representatives, and interacts with the authors of publications on intelligence topics. Contact information: Address: Moscow, Ostozhenka 51/10 Phones: (499) , Fax: (499) Press Bureau: SVR:

Contacts of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Moscow, Main Post Office, PO Box 510 Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Tel: (499) , (499) Fax: (499) web: svr.gov.ru

MOSCOW, December 20 – RIA Novosti. One of the main structures ensuring Russia's security celebrates its 95th anniversary on Sunday.

Rightfully considered one of the best intelligence services in the world, the SVR has written many glorious pages in the annals of Russia. Based on the combat experience of their predecessors, Russian intelligence officers successfully solve the tasks facing them to ensure the security of Russia and its interests on the world stage.

Base

Soviet intelligence was created after the October Revolution as an integral part of the Cheka.

By the summer of 1920, the international and domestic situation of Soviet Russia became more complicated. The Soviet-Polish war ended in defeat, Polish troops occupied the territories of Western Ukraine and Belarus.

It became clear that without well-organized work abroad, the bodies of the All-Russian Emergency Commission would not be able to promptly identify and suppress the enemy’s subversive activities.

On December 20, 1920, the Chairman of the Cheka, Felix Dzerzhinsky, signed an order to create the Foreign Department of the Cheka (INO). This date is generally considered to be the date of birth of foreign intelligence as an independent unit.

The main tasks of the INO then were to obtain information about the activities of counter-revolutionary White Guard organizations abroad and their agents sent to Russia, as well as to obtain secret documentary information that was of utmost importance for ensuring the security of the state.

In 1922, the Cheka was abolished, on its basis the State Political Directorate (GPU) was created under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, then transformed into the United State Political Directorate (OGPU) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

The Secret Operational Directorate was created in the OGPU, which included the Foreign Department (INO), which was engaged in conducting intelligence abroad. The INO OGPU was significantly expanded, and new, more complex tasks were assigned to it, taking into account the changed situation.

One of the main results of foreign intelligence activities along this line in those years was Operation Syndicate-2 to bring the leader of the People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, Boris Savinkov, to the USSR and the defeat of his organization on our territory, Operation Trust against the British agent and his arrest, the disintegration of the Russian All-Military Union, the defeat of White Guard organizations in the Far East and other actions.

An important role in these operations was played by security officers Artur Artuzov, Andrei Fedorov, Grigory Syroezhkin, Yakov Davtyan.

In the 1920s, Soviet foreign intelligence took its first steps in the international arena. She managed to declare herself and successfully carried out the tasks of the center, achieved positive results in solving the tasks facing her and contributed to strengthening the position of the USSR in the international arena. At the same time, Soviet intelligence officers acquired a lot of valuable agents, who mainly worked on an ideological basis.

Work in Britain, Germany, USA and Japan

In 1930, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided to reorganize Soviet foreign intelligence. She was given the task of intensifying intelligence work in Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Japan, the Baltic countries and Finland.

Great importance was attached to conducting illegal intelligence. Illegal residencies were created in Austria, Germany, England, France, USA, Turkey and China.

In those years, the story of a group of Soviet intelligence agents from among British citizens began, which became known as the “Cambridge Five”. The members of the Cambridge Five were recruited by illegal intelligence officer Arnold Deitch.

In 1933, another outstanding illegal intelligence officer, Dmitry Bystroletov, was sent to Deitch, who was tasked with recruiting a cryptographer for the British Foreign Office. This recruitment took place in 1934, as a result of which Soviet intelligence gained access to the secrets of British diplomacy.

From the participants of the "Cambridge Five" in the pre-war and war years, the USSR received the most valuable information on major international problems.

In those years there were favorable conditions for conducting reconnaissance in Germany. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Soviet station in Berlin had agents in German intelligence and counterintelligence, the Foreign Ministry, and the Nazi Party apparatus.

As for France, relations with which the Soviet Union had strained during this period, the possibilities of a “legal” residency there were sharply limited. The main work of collecting political information of interest to the Center was carried out by the illegal station, whose work was led by Vasily Zarubin from 1929 to 1933. His wife, Elizaveta Zarubina, also achieved great results in her work, attracting information sources in the German embassy and in other objects of interest to foreign intelligence to cooperate with intelligence.

One of the key areas of Soviet overseas intelligence work in the 1930s was Japan.

Thanks to the work of intelligence officers in relation to Japan, the Soviet government was constantly aware of Tokyo's plans regarding China, Mongolia, the USSR, Korea and other countries. This made it possible to thwart Tokyo’s aggressive plans in the area of ​​Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol and ultimately prevent the outbreak of Japanese aggression against the USSR. Scouts Vasily Pudin and Ivan Chichaev played a major role in that work.

In 1930, a Soviet illegal residency arose in the United States, and in 1933, after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and America, a “legal” residency, first in New York, and then in Washington and San Francisco. In the pre-war years, the main task of residencies in the United States was to work in the area of ​​scientific and technical intelligence. Particular attention was paid to obtaining data in the field of military equipment, as well as the latest achievements in aircraft construction, chemical, automotive, and metallurgical industries. This allowed the Soviet state to accelerate the development of the most important sectors of the economy.

According to experts, the first half of the 1930s were a turning point for Soviet intelligence. She then managed to create strong agent positions in the main Western countries, in neighboring countries, in the Far East and China. This allowed the Soviet leadership to be aware of the policies of the main states and to take timely measures to neutralize Japan’s aggressive aspirations in the Far East.

However, the rise to power in Germany of Adolf Hitler and the expansion he unleashed in Europe soon undermined the intelligence positions acquired by Soviet intelligence, as a result of which, literally on the eve of the war, it had to take urgent measures to restore the intelligence network in Europe.

Before the war

The aggravation of the international situation after the establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany required a restructuring of the work of foreign intelligence, which was now required to obtain information about the secret military-political plans of Berlin and Tokyo in difficult conditions.

In the summer of 1934, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR was formed, within which the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) was created. The Foreign Department (intelligence) became the Fifth Department of the GUGB.

In those years, the intelligence leadership decided to create, on the basis of illegal stations and groups operating in Germany, Italy, France, Austria and other countries, an illegal intelligence apparatus for special purposes for organizing acts of sabotage against Nazi Germany and its satellites and carrying out special actions against white émigré and Trotskyist organizations.

This organization subsequently received the name “Serebryansky Service Apparatus,” named after its leader Yakov Serebryansky.

The created illegal groups carried out sabotage on German ships transporting weapons and military equipment for Franco's supporters during the Spanish Civil War.

At the same time, members of an illegal anti-fascist organization, which later received the name “Red Chapel”, whose leaders were Arvid Harnack (agent pseudonym “Corsican”) and Harro Schulze-Boysen (“Starshina”), became agents of Soviet intelligence in Germany. Soviet foreign intelligence used the Red Chapel to obtain valuable information about the plans and intentions of the Hitler regime regarding the USSR. Intelligence officer Alexander Korotkov played an outstanding role in obtaining information on Germany in the pre-war years.

In the second half of the 1930s, intelligence agencies were “purged”, and as a result, the position of Soviet intelligence abroad weakened.

Considering the acute shortage of intelligence personnel, in 1938 it was decided to create a School of Special Purposes (SPS), which trained several dozen intelligence officers until 1941 (the successor to the SPS was the Andropov Red Banner Institute of the KGB, and now it is the Foreign Intelligence Academy).

At the end of 1939, Pavel Fitin was appointed head of foreign intelligence of the state security agencies, who supervised its work until 1946.

From January 1941 until Germany attacked the USSR, intelligence sent at least a hundred intelligence messages to the country's political leadership, which stated that Germany would start a war in the first half of 1941.

War time

The attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 confronted state security intelligence with the need for a radical reorganization of its work. In July 1941, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution “On the organization of the struggle in the rear of German troops.”

Foreign intelligence was given the following tasks: to organize work to identify the military-political plans of Germany and its allies during the war, to create special detachments for conducting reconnaissance and sabotage operations.

In addition, it was necessary to identify the true plans and intentions of the United States and England regarding the conduct of the war and the post-war structure, to conduct reconnaissance in neutral countries in order to prevent them from going over to the side of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo “axis” countries, to carry out scientific and technical reconnaissance in order to strengthen the military and economic power of the USSR.

To solve new problems, the intelligence units of the state security agencies were strengthened. The main intelligence unit was the First Directorate of the People's Commissariat of State Security.

At the same time, the Fourth Directorate of the NKVD was created. His tasks, along with organizing the partisan movement in the temporarily occupied territory of the Soviet Union, included conducting reconnaissance about the military plans of the Nazi command on the Soviet-German front and conducting sabotage work.

This department was headed by Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov. To conduct reconnaissance and sabotage work in the rear of the German army, a separate special-purpose motorized rifle brigade was created, commanded by Vyacheslav Gridnev.

To conduct reconnaissance behind enemy lines, special partisan detachments and stations were created in cities occupied by the enemy.

Legendary Kuznetsov

Nikolai Kuznetsov became a legend of Soviet intelligence. Having exceptional linguistic abilities and excellent data for operational work, Kuznetsov, even before the war, carried out tasks to obtain valuable information from German diplomats working in Moscow.

During the war, Kuznetsov acted as part of the NKVD “Winners” partisan detachment, commanded by Colonel Dmitry Medvedev.

In 1942, Kuznetsov was thrown behind German lines in the area of ​​the Ukrainian city of Rivne. With documents addressed to Chief Lieutenant Paul Siebert, Kuznetsov was well-established in the circles of German officers and collected information of interest to Moscow.

In particular, Kuznetsov conveyed to Moscow information about the impending assassination attempt by the German special services on the leaders of the USSR, USA and England during the Tehran Conference, and about the preparation of the Wehrmacht offensive on the Kursk Bulge.

In addition, Kuznetsov was involved in the liquidation of the leaders of the German regime in Western Ukraine. Kuznetsov destroyed the vice-governor of Galicia Otto Bauer, the main Nazi judge in Ukraine Alfred Funk, and the deputy Gauleiter of Ukraine General Hermann Knuth. With the help of other partisan intelligence officers, Kuznetsov kidnapped the commander of the German special forces, General von Ilgen.

In March 1944, Kuznetsov died in battle with Ukrainian nationalists. For the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazis, Nikolai Kuznetsov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Another reconnaissance and sabotage detachment "Fort", led by Vladimir Molodtsov, operated in Odessa and its environs. The intelligence officers obtained important information about the German and Romanian troops and the plans of the command of these countries. As a result of betrayal, Molodtsov was captured and executed by the Romanian occupiers. He was also posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

On the eve of the occupation of Kyiv by Wehrmacht troops, foreign intelligence created an illegal residency in the capital of Soviet Ukraine, headed by Ivan Kudrya. This residency group managed to penetrate the intelligence center of the German troops and obtain information about many dozens of Abwehr agents, as well as a number of traitors. Kudrya was betrayed by a Gestapo agent and executed. He was also posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The underground intelligence center in Nikolaev was headed by Viktor Lyagin, who before the war worked as an intelligence officer in the United States. The group created by Lyagin in Nikolaev transmitted important information to the Center. In March 1943, Lyagin was arrested by the Gestapo while carrying out a mission. He was posthumously awarded a Hero star.

Intelligence in allied countries

With the outbreak of war, Britain and the United States declared their readiness to provide assistance and support to the Soviet Union. But foreign intelligence needed to have a reliable intelligence apparatus in these countries in order to know the true intentions of the coalition partners in relation to both Germany and the USSR in order to promptly inform the country’s leadership.

As for the United States, in order to carry out tasks in this area, the Center suggested that Soviet residencies acquire sources of information from the most important US government agencies - the White House, the State Department, intelligence services, Congress, the Ministry of Finance and other departments.

At the beginning of the war, foreign intelligence in the United States had several dozen agents in touch, mainly through scientific and technical intelligence. Illegal residency - under the leadership of intelligence officer Iskhak Akhmerov.

During the war years, the Center regularly received political information about the US attitude towards the USSR, about the prospects for opening a “second front” in Europe, about separate negotiations between the head of the American intelligence services in Europe, Allen Dulles, and representatives of the German Wehrmacht, and other valuable information.

A large amount of information came through scientific and technical intelligence. The Center was able to transfer valuable information on aircraft manufacturing, the medical industry, shipbuilding, artillery, and radars. A special place in her work was occupied by obtaining information about the beginning of work in the United States to create American atomic weapons.

In Britain, the "Cambridge Five", which included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross, provided Soviet foreign intelligence with access to secret documents of the War Cabinet, to the correspondence of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill with US President Franklin Roosevelt.

Persian direction

An important part of the work of Soviet intelligence was the Persian direction: Iran pursued a pro-German policy during the war, gradually turning into a springboard for German military aggression in the Middle East.

Since the beginning of the war, four Soviet stations operated in Iran - in Tehran, Tabriz, Pahlavi and Mashhad. The chief resident of the state security agencies in this country was Ivan Agayants. Such experienced intelligence officers as Pavel Zhuravlev, Vladimir Vertiporokh, Nikolai Lysenkov worked with him.

During the war years, important military-political information came from Iran. Information about the Germans preparing an assassination attempt on participants in the Big Three meeting in Tehran, first received by Nikolai Kuznetsov, was confirmed by intelligence in Iran. As a result, the necessary measures were taken against the German agents, which made it possible to avoid an emergency with the participants of the Tehran Conference.

It was then that the path to intelligence actually began for the outstanding security officers Gevork and Gohar Vartanyan. As part of a special group, they took part in ensuring the safety of the leaders of the Big Three. Since 1956, for thirty years, the Vartanyans, under the pseudonyms “Anri” and “Anita,” worked illegally in different countries of the world. In 1984, Gevork Vartanyan was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The Great Patriotic War became a serious test for foreign intelligence. In incredibly difficult conditions, sometimes under bombs, the scouts risked their lives in order to obtain important information. Intelligence informed the country's top leadership about the plans of the German command at Stalingrad, on the Kursk Bulge, and about other plans of the German Wehrmacht. Thus, she made a great contribution to the victory.

Atomic reconnaissance

The role of intelligence was also great in the creation of Soviet atomic weapons in the most difficult conditions of the post-war years. After the United States tested its first atomic weapon in the summer of 1945 and bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, it became clear that an even greater threat loomed over the Soviet Union, which had just experienced the worst war in its history.

It should be noted that intelligence promptly drew the attention of the political leadership of the USSR to the work ongoing in the West to create fundamentally new weapons and constantly kept them informed of events. Intelligence was assigned a number of tasks on the atomic problem, which in operational correspondence was called “Enormoz”.

Among these tasks is to determine the circle of countries conducting practical work on the creation of atomic weapons, inform the Center about the content of these works, and, through their intelligence capabilities, acquire the necessary scientific and technical information that can facilitate the creation of such weapons in the USSR.

A special scientific and technical intelligence unit was created in the central office. It was headed by Leonid Kvasnikov. Soon, foreign intelligence residencies in the Scandinavian countries, the USA and England received an orientation, which set the task of identifying all the information related to the problem of creating a “uranium bomb”.

Outstanding intelligence officers Alexander Feklisov, Anatoly Yatskov, and Semyon Semenov played a huge role in obtaining information on the atomic problem. Data from the Cambridge Five played a big role. The most valuable agent of Soviet intelligence was the English nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs, who participated in the creation of American atomic weapons.

With the help of intelligence data, domestic nuclear scientists checked with foreign experience regarding the ideas and developments that they themselves carried out, and achieved the best results. At the same time, the time required to develop new ideas and technologies was reduced, and unnecessary waste of funds was avoided. Largely thanks to this, the first Soviet atomic charge was created in a short time and successfully tested in August 1949.

"Colonel Abel"

The post-war years became important for foreign intelligence. The end of the war meant the cessation of hostilities on the fronts, but the intelligence services of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition did not stop their activities. After the war, the American Office of Strategic Services was disbanded and was replaced by the US Central Intelligence Agency, whose main efforts were directed against the Soviet Union.

British intelligence did not stop its activities in relation to the Soviet Union during the Second World War. But in the post-war period, in connection with the creation of NATO, which set itself the task of carrying out a constant military confrontation with the countries of Western Europe, the member countries of this organization began to coordinate their efforts to undermine the USSR and other socialist countries.

The difficulties of achieving a post-war settlement in Europe and the coordination of the efforts of Western countries in the fight against the USSR and its allies led to a significant expansion of the scope of tasks facing foreign intelligence. During these years, intelligence actively improved the forms and methods of work and successfully solved the problems facing it.

In 1954, the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR was formed. The work of foreign intelligence was entrusted to the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the KGB.

Soviet intelligence, in addition to identifying the plans of the United States and NATO, in those years actively obtained documentary materials on the most important discoveries and military inventions in the field of atomic energy, jet technology, radar and samples of the latest technology.

The most famous Soviet intelligence officer working at that time was. After the war, under various pseudonyms, he worked in the United States and led the intelligence network in this country. In 1957, due to betrayal, he was arrested, but in order to let Moscow know about his arrest and that he was not a traitor, Fischer gave the name of his late friend Rudolf Abel.

During the investigation, he categorically denied his affiliation with intelligence, refused to testify at trial, and rejected attempts by American intelligence officers to persuade him to betray. Fischer was accused of collecting data on atomic research and military information and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 1962, Fisher was traded to earlier.

Caribbean crisis

In the 1960s, the working conditions of KGB intelligence in the main directions became significantly more complicated. NATO countries considered the USSR as their main enemy and the main target of a possible nuclear attack. Every year, the Pentagon revised upward the number of facilities for launching nuclear strikes on the territory of the USSR in a future world war.

Therefore, among the main tasks of intelligence at that time were monitoring the preparations of the United States and NATO to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries.

Intelligence played a major role in resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, when the world was on the brink of a nuclear disaster.

Largely thanks to the Soviet resident in America, Alexander Feklisov, in those days a direct communication channel was established between the top leadership of the USSR and the USA, which played a very important role in preventing war. As global conflict became increasingly likely and time was ticking, perhaps, by the clock, Feklisov took on enormous responsibility and single-handedly made decisions that helped defuse the situation.

In the next decade, KGB intelligence worked actively in all regions of the world, supplying the country's political leadership with the necessary political, economic, scientific and technical information. But the processes taking place within the USSR could not but affect the position of our country in the international arena. They also affected the activities of the intelligence service itself, which, according to the recollections of its leaders, at the end of the 1980s felt that its information, especially negative ones, was perceived coolly by the country’s leadership, and was often simply ignored.

Despite these negative phenomena, intelligence continued to fulfill its duty, still reporting a variety of information to the Center. One of the most famous operations was the extraction of secrets about South Africa's nuclear program.

That problem was solved by Alexei Kozlov, who recently passed away. The information Kozlov reported to the Center helped to attract the attention of the world community to South Africa's nuclear plans. Under public pressure, the authorities of this country were forced to curtail their research into creating nuclear weapons.

In June 1980, Kozlov was arrested. He bravely endured torture, remaining faithful to his duty and oath. In 1982, he was exchanged for eleven people - ten West Germans and one South African army officer. Kozlov was later awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

Foreign Intelligence Service

After the collapse of the USSR, a new situation required defining Russia's approaches in the international arena. Foreign intelligence as one of the policy instruments in that situation could not remain in its previous form. It was necessary to rethink the intelligence doctrine and develop a new concept for conducting intelligence activities that would correspond to the current realities.

The official successor to the First Headquarters of the KGB was the newly formed Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation. Its first director was academician Yevgeny Primakov. Over the years of leading intelligence, Primakov, according to experts, not only managed to preserve the established traditions of foreign intelligence, but also contributed to the transfer of its work to a qualitatively new level that meets the challenges of our time.

Currently, Russian foreign intelligence, headed by Mikhail Fradkov, works in five main areas: political, economic, defense, scientific and technical, and environmental.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking on Saturday in the Kremlin at a gala evening dedicated to the Day of Russian Security Agencies Worker, noted that it is important for the Foreign Intelligence Service to quickly identify external threats to Russia’s security, as well as provide comprehensive analytical information, and timely report on the progress and likely development of regional conflicts.

For obvious reasons, it will not soon be possible to talk about the results of the work of Russian foreign intelligence at the present stage. But you can be sure that intelligence officers, working both abroad, “in the field” and in the “forest” - at its headquarters in Moscow’s Yasenevo, are actively solving the tasks assigned to them, reliably ensuring the security of Russia.

It is considered the date of foundation of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR of Russia), which is an integral part of the security forces and is designed to protect the security of individuals, society and the state from external threats.

The SVR carries out intelligence activities in order to provide the President of the Russian Federation, the Federal Assembly and the government with the intelligence information they need to make decisions in the political, economic, military-strategic, scientific, technical and environmental fields; ensuring conditions conducive to the successful implementation of the Russian Federation's security policy; promoting economic development, scientific and technological progress of the country and military-technical security of the Russian Federation.

Intelligence information is provided to the President of the Russian Federation, the chambers of the Federal Assembly, the Government of the Russian Federation and federal executive and judicial authorities, enterprises, institutions and organizations determined by the President.

General management of the foreign intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation (including the SVR) is exercised by the President of the Russian Federation. He appoints the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service.

The activities of the SVR are based on the federal law “On Foreign Intelligence” of January 10, 1996 (with subsequent amendments).

It is impossible to establish the exact time when intelligence operations began in Russia to obtain political and military information. Reconnaissance was carried out almost always. The date of birth of the foreign intelligence service of the Russian Federation is considered to be December 20, 1920, when the chairman of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) Felix Dzerzhinsky signed an order to create the Foreign Department of the VChK (INO VChK) under the NKVD of the RSFSR.

With this order, the Foreign Department, created in the spring of 1920 in the Special Department of the Cheka in order to strengthen intelligence work abroad, was removed from its composition and became an independent unit.

To discuss emerging problems and develop intelligence policy in relation to the current situation, the SVR Board regularly meets, including deputy directors of foreign intelligence, heads of operational, analytical and functional units.

The efforts of the Foreign Intelligence Service are concentrated on the timely identification of real external threats to the interests and security of Russia, participation in their neutralization, and ensuring the strengthening of the country’s international positions, its economic, scientific, technical and defense potential.

Over the years of the existence of Soviet and Russian foreign intelligence, many bright, successful operations were carried out. A prominent place in its chronicle is occupied by the many years of effective work of the "Cambridge Five", the exploits of Soviet intelligence officers during the Great Patriotic War, the selfless activities of the "Red Chapel" in Hitler's Germany, operations to promote the creation of the USSR nuclear shield, as well as many others carried out both in the post-war years, and at a later time. A large number of foreign intelligence officers were awarded high state awards.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources