In a fairly long gallery of heroes of the Soviet era, one of the most prominent places is occupied by the personality of the truly legendary Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov. Many informative books, articles and essays have already been written about this man, who fearlessly destroyed Nazi leaders in broad daylight, and several feature films have been shot. To date, there are practically no significant white spots left in his biography of a secret agent. True, the real circumstances of the death of someone who acted in the German rear under the guise of a Wehrmacht officer Paul Siebert are still covered in fog and sometimes cause very heated debate.

Not shot, but blown up

Visiting the places where Nikolai Kuznetsov fought, died and was buried, we were surprised at how bizarre the fate of the scout was during his lifetime and what happened to the history of his exploits after death.

One of the mysteries is the place and circumstances of Kuznetsov's death. Immediately after the war, there was a version according to which a group of scouts, along with Kuznetsov, were captured alive and then shot by militants of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in a forest near the village of Belgorodka, Rivne region. Only 14 years after the war, it became known that the group died in the village of Boratin, Lviv region.

The version about the execution of Kuznetsov by UPA militants was spread after the war by the commander of the Pobediteli partisan detachment, Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Medvedev, who was based on a telegram discovered after the war in German archives, sent by the head of the security police for the Galician district Vitiska personally to SS Gruppenführer Muller. But the telegram was based on false information given to the Germans by the UPA militants.

The UPA detachments operating in the frontline worked closely with the German occupation forces, but in order to ensure greater loyalty of the "Bandera" the occupation administration held hostage the relatives of the field commanders and leaders of the UPA. In March 1944, such hostages were close relatives of one of the leaders of the UPA - Lebed.

After the death of Kuznetsov and a group of scouts, the UPA fighters started a game with the German administration, offering them to exchange the allegedly living intelligence officer Kuznetsov-Siebert for Lebed's relatives. While the Germans were thinking, the UPA fighters allegedly shot him, and instead of him they offered genuine documents and, most importantly, Kuznetsov's report on the sabotage he carried out in the German rear in Western Ukraine. That's what they talked about.

The UPA militants, apparently, were afraid to indicate the true place of death of the scout and his group, since during the German check it would immediately become clear that this was not the capture of the scout, who was searched throughout Western Ukraine, but Kuznetsov's self-explosion.

It is not so much the place that is important here, but the circumstances of the death of the scout. He was not shot, because he did not surrender to the UPA militants, but blew himself up with a grenade.

And after the war, the circumstances of Kuznetsov's death were investigated by his friend and colleague Colonel of the NKVD-KGB Nikolai Strutinsky.

Five minutes of anger and a lifetime

With Nikolai Strutinsky (April 1, 1920 - July 11, 2003), one of us happened to meet and take several interviews with him during his lifetime in 2001 in Cherkasy, where he then lived.

Strutinsky after the war for a long time figured out the circumstances of the death of Kuznetsov, and later, already at the time of Ukrainian independence, he did everything to preserve the monuments to Kuznetsov and his memory.

We think that Strutinsky's attachment to this, the last segment of Kuznetsov's life, is not accidental. Nikolai Strutinsky was at one time a member of Kuznetsov's group and participated with him in some operations. Shortly before the death of the scout and his group, Kuznetsov and Strutinsky quarreled.
Here is what Strutinsky himself said about this.

“Once, at the beginning of 1944, we were driving along Rovno,” says Nikolai Vladimirovich. “I was driving, Nikolai Kuznetsov was sitting next to me, Yan Kaminsky, a scout, was sitting behind. Not far from Vacek Burim’s safe house, Kuznetsov asked me to stop. "He left, after a while he returned, extremely upset by something. Jan asked:" Where were you, Nikolai Vasilyevich? ... "And Jan says:" I know: at Vacek Burim's. Kuznetsov came to me: "Why did you tell him?" The turnout is secret information. But I didn’t say anything to Jan. And Kuznetsov flared up, said a lot of insulting things to me. Our nerves were at the limit then, I could not stand it, got out of the car, slammed the door - the glass broke, fragments of it fell down like that. I turned around and went. I walk down the street, I have two pistols - in a holster and in my pocket. I think for myself : stupid, I had to restrain myself, because I know that everyone is on my nerves. Sometimes at the very sight of a German Some officers had a desire to shoot everyone, and then shoot themselves. That was the state. I'm going. I hear - someone is catching up. I don't turn around. And Kuznetsov caught up, touched his shoulder: "Kolya, Kolechka, sorry, nerves."
I silently turned - and to the car. Sit down, let's go. But then I told him: we don’t work together anymore. And when Nikolai Kuznetsov left for Lvov, I didn't go with him."

This quarrel may have saved Strutinsky from death (after all, the entire Kuznetsov group died a few weeks later. But it seems to have left a deep mark on the soul of Nikolai Strutinsky.

Protocol truth about the death of intelligence officer Kuznetsov

Immediately after the war, Strutinsky worked in the Lviv regional department of the KGB. And this allowed him to restore the picture of the death of intelligence officer Kuznetsov.

Kuznetsov went to the front line with Jan Kaminsky and Ivan Belov. However, according to witness Stepan Golubovich, only two people came to Boratin.

"... at the end of February or at the beginning of March 1944, in addition to me and my wife, my mother - Golubovich Mokrina Adamovna (died in 1950), son Dmitry, 14 years old, and daughter 5 years old (later died) were in the house. In the house the light wasn't on.

On the night of the same date, at about 12 o'clock in the morning, when my wife and I were still awake, a dog barked. The wife got up from her bunk and went out into the yard. Returning to the house, she reported that people were coming from the forest to the house.

After that, she began to watch through the window, and then informed me that the Germans were coming to the door. The strangers approached the house and started knocking. First at the door, then at the window. The wife asked what to do. I agreed to open the door for them.

When strangers in German uniforms entered the house, the wife switched on the light. My mother got up and sat down in a corner near the stove, and the strangers came up to me and asked if there were any Bolsheviks or members of the UPA in the village? One of them asked in German. I replied that there were none. Then they asked to close the windows.

After that they asked for food. The wife gave them bread and bacon and, it seems, milk. I then drew attention to how two Germans could go through the forest at night if they were afraid to go through it during the day ...

One of them was above average height, at the age of 30-35 years old, his face was white, his hair was blond, one might say, somewhat reddish, he shaved his beard, had a narrow mustache.

His appearance was typical of a German. I don't remember any other signs. He talked to me for the most part.

The second was shorter than him, somewhat thin, with a blackish face, black hair, and shaving his mustache and beard.

... Sitting at the table and taking off their caps, the unknown began to eat, keeping the machine guns with them. About half an hour later (and the dog was barking all the time), as unknown people came to me, an armed member of the UPA entered the room with a rifle and a distinguishing sign on his hat "Trident", whose nickname, as I learned later, was Makhno.
Makhno, without greeting me, immediately went up to the table and offered his hand to the strangers without saying a word to them. They were also silent. Then he came up to me, sat down on the bunk and asked me what kind of people. I answered that I did not know, and after about five minutes other UPA members began to enter the apartment, which included about eight people, and maybe more.

One of the UPA participants gave the command to leave the house to civilians, that is, to us, the owners, but the second shouted: no need, and no one was let out of the hut. Then again one of the UPA participants in German gave the command to the unknown "Hands up!".

A tall unknown man got up from the table and, holding a machine gun in his left hand, waved his right hand in front of his face and, as I remember, told them not to shoot.

The weapons of the UPA participants were directed at the unknown, one of whom continued to sit at the table. "Hands up!" the command was given three times, but the unknown hands never raised.

The tall German continued the conversation: as I understand it, he asked if it was the Ukrainian police. Some of them replied that they were the UPA, and the Germans replied that it was against the law...

... I saw that the UPA participants lowered their weapons, one of them approached the Germans and offered to hand over their machine guns, and then the tall German handed him over, and after him gave the second one. Tobacco began to be crushed on the table, UPA members and unknown people began to smoke. Thirty minutes have already passed since the unknown met with the UPA participants. Moreover, the tall unknown was the first to ask for a cigarette.

... A tall unknown, rolling a cigarette, began to light a cigarette from the lamp and put it out, but in the corner near the stove a second lamp burned faintly. I asked my wife to bring the lamp to the table.

At this time, I noticed that the tall unknown became noticeably nervous, which was noticed by the UPA participants, who began to ask him what was the matter ... The unknown, as I understood, was looking for a lighter.

But then I saw that all the UPA participants rushed from the unknown towards the exit doors, but since they opened into the room, they did not open it in a hurry, and right there I heard a strong explosion of a grenade and even saw a sheaf of flame from it. The second unknown before the grenade explosion lay down on the floor under the bunk.
After the explosion, I took my young daughter and stood near the stove, my wife jumped out of the hut along with the UPA members, who broke the door, removing it from its hinges.

An unknown person of short stature asked something of the second, who was lying wounded on the floor. He answered him that "I don't know", after which the unknown short stature, having knocked out the window frame, jumped out of the window of the house with a briefcase.

A grenade explosion wounded my wife lightly in the leg and mother lightly in the head.

With regard to the unknown short stature, who was running through the window, for about five minutes I heard strong firing from rifles in the direction in which he fled. What his fate is, I do not know.

After that, I ran away with the child to my neighbor, and in the morning, when I returned home, I saw the unknown person dead in the yard near the fence, lying face down in his underwear.

As was established during the interrogation of other witnesses, during the explosion of his own grenade, Kuznetsov's right hand was torn off and "heavy wounds were inflicted on the frontal part of the head, chest and abdomen, which is why he soon died."

So, the place, time (March 9, 1944) and the circumstances of the death of Nikolai Kuznetsov were established.

Later, having organized the exhumation of the intelligence officer's body, Strutinsky proved that it was Kuznetsov who died in Boratin that night.

But it turned out to be difficult to prove this for other reasons. Strutinsky, who took risks while searching for the place of death of the scout, had to take risks again, proving that the remains he found not far from this place really belong to Kuznetsov.

A HERO WITH A TRAGIC SPIN

Nikolai Kuznetsov

Dozens of books have been written about Nikolai Kuznetsov, feature films and documentaries have been made. A colleague of the legendary Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev and a fearless partisan, a Soviet intelligence officer who acted under the guise of Lieutenant Paul Wilhelm Siebert for 16 months, and a fearless executioner of death sentences for the fascist elite.

Let's remember the most famous and indisputable facts. Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov was born in 1911. By nationality - Russian. Became (until we specify a specific year) a professional intelligence officer. During the Great Patriotic War, he led a reconnaissance and sabotage group in the city of Rivne, Ukrainian SSR. He worked under the guise of a Wehrmacht officer Lieutenant Paul Siebert. The group operated under the command of the commander of the Pobediteli partisan detachment, Chekist Dmitry Medvedev. From August 25, 1942 to March 8, 1944, Kuznetsov committed a series of acts of retaliation. It was he who destroyed the executioner of the Ukrainian people, the chief German judge Funk, General Knut, the vice-governor of Galicia Bauer, the vice-governor Lvov Vechter and other high-ranking fascist executioners, kidnapped and destroyed the head of the so-called "Eastern troops" General Ilgen. He prepared assassination attempts on the Gauleiter of Ukraine Erich Koch and General Dargel ...

Conducted a number of reconnaissance operations, obtained information of a strategic nature. It was Kuznetsov who reported on the assassination attempt by the Germans, led by Otto Skorzeny, on the "Big Three" - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, being prepared in Tehran during the Conference of Leaders of the Anti-Hitler Coalition. Kuznetsov was killed by Bandera on the night of March 8-9, 1944. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded posthumously in 1944, he was awarded two Orders of Lenin.

However, in the life of intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov, much is still classified as “secret”. The researcher and intelligence historian Teodor Gladkov helped to remove this stamp. Thus, new pages were opened in Kuznetsov's biography. Teodor Kirillovich passed away, but not all of my notes of long conversations with him have been deciphered.

Teodor Kirillovich, everything seems to be known about Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov. But it is in the new, 21st century that so much is written and told about him ... New features are added to the already established and established image of an impeccable hero. Kuznetsov was accused of almost snitching: before the war, he allegedly denounced his own people. He is both a cold killer and a seducer - almost even a pimp who put ballerinas from the Bolshoi to foreign diplomats.

Stop-stop ... A lot of chatter, nonsense, speculation, deliberate distortion. Sometimes the desire to embellish. It happens that denigrate. But why such a huge interest in Kuznetsov? Probably because the figure is unusual, completely atypical for its time. And, this is certainly not only heroic, but in many ways tragic.

Who was the intelligence officer Kuznetsov?

Indeed, there is something obscure, unsaid in Kuznetsov's biography, which was previously preferred to remain silent. Maybe this, hidden for the time being, gave rise to gossip?

Teodor Kirillovich, in Medvedev's still popular book Strong in Spirit, the author mentions in passing that one of his subordinates brought Kuznetsov to him in February 1942. Medvedev's new partisan detachment was just being prepared to be thrown into the rear of the Nazis, and Nikolai Ivanovich, an engineer at a Ural factory, was introduced to Medvedev as a man who spoke German fluently and was capable of playing the role of a Wehrmacht officer. Let me ask you a direct question: did Kuznetsov cooperate with the authorities before the war or not?

Collaborated. When the partisan commander Dmitry Medvedev wrote the book "Strong in Spirit", which glorified both him and Kuznetsov, who died in 1944, he did not have the opportunity to tell the whole truth about the intelligence officer. “... Medvedev's detachment was supposed to fly near Rovno, and a Moscow engineer came to us, said that he knew German. And a month later, Paul Siebert appeared ... ”- it is written in the book. This is a fairy tale for young children. Scouts aren't born that way. But Medvedev, naturally, who knew the true biography of his subordinate better than anyone else, was bound by secrecy. He could not, he had no right to write the truth in his book, and he was very distressed about this. In fact, since the 1930s, Kuznetsov was an unspoken employee of the state security service, he worked at various enterprises in the Urals. And the fact that he studied at the Industrial Institute, wrote a diploma in German is nonsense. Only years later, in the 1970s, the KGB for the first time allowed to write, and even then in one line, that Kuznetsov "begins to carry out special tasks to ensure state security in 1938." From the enigmatic and, in fact, nothing revealing wording, it follows that on August 25, 1942, an engineer from the Urals, an ordinary Red Army soldier, Grachev, landed with a parachute in the German rear with a parachute, but rather an experienced Chekist who had already worked in the authorities for four years. And relatively recently, it was possible to find out that in fact, by that time, Nikolai Ivanovich's professional experience was calculated not four, but ten years.

But this also refutes all common and such familiar ideas about Kuznetsov.

Since June 10, 1932, Nikolai Kuznetsov has been a special agent of the district department of the OGPU of the Komi-Permyatsk Autonomous National District. The offer to work in the OGPU - the NKVD accepted because he was a patriot, and partly due to youthful romanticism. The codename is "Kulik". Then in 1934 in Sverdlovsk he became a "Scientist", later, in 1937 - "Colonist". In the Medvedev detachment he acted under the name of the Red Army soldier Nikolai Vasilyevich Grachev. And, for example, in Sverdlovsk, where he moved from Kudymkar in the summer of 1934, he was listed as a statistician in the Sverd-Les trust, a draftsman at the Verkh-Isetsky plant, and finally, a dresser at the technical control bureau of the design department. In fact, he was listed in the secret staff of the Sverdlovsk department of the OGPU - NKVD. For four years, as a route agent, he traveled up and down the entire Urals. In the description of that period, it was noted: “Resourceful and quick-witted, has an exceptional ability to make the necessary acquaintances and quickly navigate the situation. Has a good memory."

With whom did Kuznetsov make contacts useful for the OGPU?

At Uralmash, at other factories, many foreign engineers and craftsmen, especially Germans, worked in those years. There were not enough specialists. Some came from Germany back in 1929 during the crisis to earn money - they were paid in hard currency. Others sincerely wanted to help the Land of the Soviets. And there were outright enemies: the chief fitter of the Borzig company defiantly wore a ring with a swastika.

Charming and sociable, Kuznetsov knew how to easily get along with people of different - both in age and social status. I met with them at work and at home, talked in German, exchanged books and records. His sister Lida, who also lived in Sverdlovsk and had no idea about her brother's true profession, was worried about him: such communication with foreigners could backfire on her beloved brother Nick. But Nicholas just laughed. None of his relatives guessed about his connection with the authorities - also a considerable achievement for a scout. And only on August 23, 1942, before being sent to Medvedev’s detachment, the “Winners” casually threw at a farewell meeting to his brother Viktor: if there is no news about him for a long time, then you can look at Kuznetsky Most, there in house 24 they will answer. After the war, Viktor Ivanovich Kuznetsov found out that this was the address of the NKVD reception room.

And Nikolai Kuznetsov strove, as if feeling how his future fate would turn out, to adopt the style of behavior from the Germans. Sometimes he copied their manner of dressing, learned to wear well-ironed suits, to which he matched shirts and ties according to the color, showed off in a soft, slightly wrinkled hat. He strove to keep abreast of the latest in German literature, paying attention to scientific and technical books, and often looked into the reading room of the library of the Industrial Institute. Hence, by the way, the myth: Kuznetsov graduated from this institute and even defended his diploma in German.

Well, the young employee Kuznetsov communicated with foreigners, converged with them. And what good is this for the Chekists?

Like what? Special agent Kuznetsov did not sit idle. Imagine the same Uralmash - the center of the Soviet military industry. There are a lot of foreigners, including Germans. It is clear that there were their scouts and agents recruited by them. Many left, but the recruits stayed. And Kuznetsov reported on moods, identified agents. Here is a tip, and recruitment, and verification, and installation ...

Kuznetsov also worked in agriculture: kulaks were exiled to the area where he worked in Komi. Of course, many were written into fists in vain. But there were also kulak uprisings, and the murders of activists, village correspondents, real, and not fake, sabotage. So the taxi driver Kuznetsov received the right to bear arms. Not only rifles, like all foresters. He had a revolver. A man went into the forest, and there they killed postmen, taxi drivers, those who represented power.

But how did Kuznetsov end up in Moscow? Who specifically recommended it?

Complicated story. He was found in Komi by the new People's Commissar of the NKVD, a former party worker, Mikhail Ivanovich Zhuravlev. He sent him to strengthen the Chekist ranks, and he quickly rose to the rank of head of the republican ministry. He calls the Moscow Office of Counterintelligence and reports to his teacher Leonid Raikhman...

The very one who was accused of complicity with Beria? ..

I am answering your question about Kuznetsov without going into details of the biography of NKVD Lieutenant General Reichman, by the way, one of the ex-husbands of the famous ballerina Olga Vasilievna Lepeshinsky. (He was the second and not the last husband of the ballerina. He was arrested, convicted, rehabilitated, but did not return to his wife after prison. - N.D.) Zhuravlev reports: “I have a guy here with fantastic acting and linguistic abilities. He speaks several dialects of German, Polish, but here he learned Komi, so much so that he writes poetry in this most difficult language. And Reichman just had one of his illegal immigrants who came from Germany. I connected Kuznetsov with him on the phone, we talked, and the illegal did not understand: he asked Raikhman, did they call from Berlin? They made an appointment for Kuznetsov in Moscow. And so he ended up in the capital ... But Kuznetsov never appeared at the Lubyanka once in his life.

Afraid to let go?

There were few such agents. They were never lit. They could take a picture of a person entering the building, and the end of the job. The first meeting, as if by tradition, was near the monument to the first printer Fedorov. Then in safe houses, in the Park of Culture and in the garden named after Bauman. They gave him housing on Karl Marx Street at 20 - this is Staraya Basmannaya. The apartment is crammed with various appliances. All conversations of interest to the Lubyanka were recorded.

Live bait fishing

He was settled under the name of Rudolf Wilhelmovich Schmidt, a German by nationality, born in 1912. In fact, Kuznetsov, let me remind you, was born a year earlier. He posed as a test engineer at the Ilyushinsky plant and appeared in the form of a senior lieutenant of the Red Army Air Force.

But why the senior lieutenant?

Kuznetsov realized that his age of 29–30 years was just right for a lieutenant. A legend for strangers: he works in Fili, at a factory where planes are produced.

It is surprising that Lieutenant Schmidt was so pecked at.

Successfully thought up - Rudolf Schmidt, that is, translated into Russian by Kuznetsov. He speaks German, was born in Germany when he was two years old, his parents settled in the USSR, where the boy grew up. Retroactively, Kuznetsov was given a passport with that surname and a "white ticket" so that they would not be dragged around the military registration and enlistment offices. It is difficult not to peck at such a tempting bait for any intelligence. In addition, the commander of the Red Army in appearance is a true Aryan. And what a fix. Now, photos of Nikolai Kuznetsov of those times are often published: he is in a flight suit. But here's what's interesting, or even characteristic. Nobody gave him that flight uniform with three head over heels of a senior lieutenant. He told Reichman that he got it himself, came up with a legend and acted on it. He never served in any army and did not have a military rank. But how smart in German, elegant in European style. Now-t? we know that Kuznetsov was in an illegal position in his own country.

But the title could be awarded.

No title, no credentials. And when applying for a job, almost always fictitious, he wrote in the questionnaires that he had been released from military service due to illness. And he was absolutely healthy. True, when he underwent a thorough medical examination before being sent to Medvedev's detachment, they revealed a visual defect in him. But insignificant, does not interfere with operational work. And Kuznetsov always wrote that he did not know languages. And here's what's curious: if he had to, he could also pass himself off as a foreigner who did not speak Russian well. It took a few times as well.

Where did he work, or at least what was he assigned to?

In Moscow, he was secretly on the staff, received a salary directly in the first department - German, created in 1940. Nikolai Kuznetsov even had the only position in the Soviet special service: a highly classified special agent of the NKVD with a salary of upkeep at the rate of a personnel detective of the central apparatus. And the salary is quite large. Everyone saw that he actively communicates with foreigners. There were so many denunciations. Heaps of denunciations! I read them. Well, I'll tell you, and wrote. The most active is a neighbor in his communal apartment: he leads foreigners in general.

I guess the denunciations ended up in the same place.

Should have been, in theory. But due to some confusion, Kuznetsov was also taken into development by our counterintelligence, who established surveillance on him. They even gave him nicknames: one - "Athlete" for a muscular figure, the other - "Frank" for elegance in clothes. I saw these denunciations signed by two different people from the outdoor scene - "Kat" and "Nadezhda".

The knockers must have been the same women he used.

Not at all necessary. Male agents were also covered by female names. But Kuznetsov could sooner or later be taken.

Didn't intelligence chiefs warn their colleagues about him?

Never. It would be even more dangerous for him. The intelligence officer did not have the right to name his connections even to his office neighbor. But reports about the behavior of Rudy Schmidt got on the table to the People's Commissar of the NKGB Merkulov. And he was faced with a dilemma - to arrest his own special agent or to order the outdoor advertising to not respond to the "Athlete". Disclosure of the agent was not included in the plans of the GB. And Merkulov found the right solution, writing on the servant: "Pay attention to Schmidt." Which, in a language understandable to counterintelligence, meant: do not touch, do not arrest, do not conduct conversations, but continue monitoring. So Kuznetsov was a cat that walked by itself. Otherwise, it's dangerous. They could, they could have. So, Kovalsky, well-known in certain areas, who recruited General Skoblin in Paris, was shot by his own people. Although he spoke, he swore to them who he was. It was in Ukraine, and the Center was looking for him, having lost contact with him. Kuznetsov, on the other hand, was leaving observation. Did his job. Recruited Germans. Obtained secret documents. His task in counterintelligence was to get foreigners to fall for him, primarily agents of German intelligence. And General Reichman confirmed: "We did not teach him anything." And Kuznetsov bought a camera and quickly took pictures of the documents handed over to him by agents - he himself learned to take pictures. And he also learned how to drive a car. There was no time to study at some intelligence school: by that time Kuznetsov had been expelled from the Komsomol twice. First, for the fact that his father is allegedly a fist, and even from the former. Lies. Kuznetsov also had a criminal record. And a few years later, when he was already working in the authorities, a new arrest. Not up to higher education - they didn’t even let him finish a technical school.

Let's talk about the arrest a little later. But how did he manage to earn a criminal record in his young years?

When he was expelled from the Komsomol as a "son of a kulak", he was also expelled from the technical school a semester before graduation. Until the end of his studies, there was nothing left, and he was given only a certificate that he had taken courses. And nineteen-year-old Kuznetsov, on the advice of his friend, rushed away from sin to the Komi-Permyatsky district. Where's next. He served as a forester there, and someone from his direct superiors was stealing. Kuznetsov himself reported this to the police. And he - for the company - was given a year on probation and again expelled from the Komsomol.

For a future organ worker, a biography is not the most suitable. Am I right or not: on that first conviction, his organs were seized, recruited?

That's how it usually happens. And with Kuznetsov, to my surprise, the story is somewhat different. Once in Komi, Kuznetsov famously fought off the bandits who attacked him. And he came into the field of view of detective Ovchinnikov. A Komi-Permyak by nationality, he suddenly discovered that a young Russian who had recently arrived here was not only brave and strong, but also spoke, and fluently, in his native language. It was Ovchinnikov who recruited Kuznetsov, quickly realizing that he had accidentally hit on a nugget ... And then in Komi, Mikhail Ivanovich Zhuravlev found strength, tore off such a talent from himself, and gave it to Muscovites. And Kuznetsov could work until the end of his days in his distant place.

Why did he never take a course in Chekist wisdom?

Raikhman was afraid that upon entering the Chekist school, personnel officers would send Kuznetsov not for exams, but for landing. And I had to work today. After all, the scouts did not believe in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Raikhman and his comrades even wrote a report about it. But Merkulov, their then chief, tore up the paper with parting words: “They don’t like this at the top ...” Moscow was flooded with German agents. They launched a very cunning combination, and certain circles came to Kuznetsov. And off we go. Managed to intercept two diplomatic couriers. Kuznetsov soon managed to compromise and recruit a certain Krno - a diplomat who actually replaced the envoy of Slovakia. He smuggled whole batches of smuggled watches through diplomatic channels, part of the proceeds from their sale seemed to be paid to agents, but in fact everything ended up in Krno's pockets - he was such a greed.

By the way, there were so many watches confiscated by intelligence that employees of our state security agencies were allowed to buy them at cost. And they bought.

And Kuznetsov firmly pressed on Krno, and information from him, who disappeared in the German embassy for days and nights, became extremely valuable.

Then, thanks to Kuznetsov, they found approaches to the naval and military attaches of Germany. Yes, he knew how to charm people. Here the German delegation visits ZIS - the famous car factory. And Rudolf Schmidt meets a member of the delegation, who in turn introduces the good-natured Rudy to his companion. The lady is beautiful, the courtship of the Russian officer is pleasant to her. There is a convergence. And intelligence gets the opportunity to regularly read documents from the German embassy, ​​where the beauty works in an inconspicuous, but important, purely technical position, through which many secret documents automatically pass. Kuznetsov managed to win over both the valet of the German ambassador and his wife.

Not quite clear.

There are many unknowns in his life. And before the war, thanks to Kuznetsov, they entered the ambassador's residence in Teply Lane. Safes were opened, copies were made of documents, and the German intelligence network fell into the hands of Lubyanka employees. And the valet of the German ambassador, who considered Kuznetsov a real Aryan, a fascist, presented him with a Nazi badge, the book "Mein Kampf" on the last pre-war Christmas, and promised to register membership in the Nazi party after the end of the war.

Divorced, no children

There is a lot of gossip about the fact that Kuznetsov often used beautiful ladies in his work. Forgive me for being rude, as if putting ballerinas and other artists in bed with foreigners. They even called the name of one people's artist, and other celebrities too.

It was, but, of course, not in those hypertrophied sizes that they talk about. Kuznetsov was a handsome man, he enjoyed success with women. Including those who, besides him, had rich admirers, not only Soviet ones. The salary of ballerinas is not very big, but a foreigner will bring stockings, and mascara from Paris, and throw something else. So Kuznetsov did not put anyone on anyone. Beautiful ladies knew their business even without him. Yes, among the ballerinas there were also his sources, who told Kuznetsov a lot of things.

He also had a serious affair with a lady artist. She was then under thirty, she lived in luxurious apartments near the Petrovsky Passage. Salon, bohemia - by the way, in that apartment Kuznetsov met actor Mikhail Zharov. And Kuznetsov, in my opinion, seriously fell in love with this socialite with a noble surname - Keanu Obolenskaya. He was known to her as Rudy Schmidt. The beginning of the 1940s, and the pact is not a pact, the attitude towards the Germans is already wary, for close ties with them they could be punished. Little by little, the Germans began to be squeezed, they were evicted from Moscow, and the Republic of the Volga Germans was completely depopulated, its inhabitants were transported to the Kazakh steppes. And Ksana, so that, God forbid, nothing happened to her herself, she took her love, speaking in a modern way, and threw it away. Kuznetsov suffered. Already when he was behind the front line in a partisan detachment, vague rumors about Ksana's marriage crept up to him. I asked Medvedev in January 1944 before leaving for Lvov: if I die, be sure to tell the truth about me to Ksana, explain who I was. And Medvedev, already a Hero of the Soviet Union, found during the war, in 1944, in Moscow, this same Keanu Obolenskaya, fulfilled the will of a friend, spoke about the Hero, who loved her until the end of his days.

And the scene of repentance followed?

Nothing like it. Complete indifference and indifference. Medvedev, a sincere, subtle man, was worried about his dead intelligence officer.

Maybe Xana was jealous? Kuznetsov had to sleep with other women.

For operational purposes. I had to bless Nikolai for these novels. As a result, valuable information was obtained. And Xana turned out to be extremely soulless.

So sorry for Nikolai Ivanovich. I did not know that such a love happened to him. Is it true that Kuznetsov was once married in his youth?

Pure truth. On December 4, 1930, the wedding took place, and, bam, already on March 4, 1931 - a divorce. My personal life did not work out, and I will never understand why. So it remained between two people who, apparently, at the beginning of their life together, loved each other. His ex-wife Elena Chueva turned out to be an exceptionally noble, worthy woman. A graduate of a medical institute, she fought, rescued the wounded and ended the war with the rank of major. Demobilized after the victory over Japan. And, you know, I never boasted to anyone, saying that I am the wife of a hero, and did not ask for anything.

There was some talk about children. More specifically, the daughter.

There were no children. Rumors about the daughter really spread and they were checked. Kuznetsov had only a nephew.

Spies flew to us in batches

Kuznetsov began working in Moscow as a scout during the difficult prewar period.

Yes, and he had to communicate with different people.

He became a regular in the then famous jewelry commission shop in Stoleshnikov Lane. He made acquaintances there with both noble and unclean people. I knew many people in the artistic world. There was a moment when, in order to legalize Kuznetsov, they even wanted to make him the administrator of the Bolshoi Theater. But they were afraid to draw too much attention to him.

The Germans were most active in 1940 and 1941. At that time, German intelligence launched a downright frenzied activity in the USSR. That's who squeezed everything out of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. What delegations frequented us! Well, where it happened - about two hundred people. And the constant change of employees - who worked for a month or three, and who swooped in for a day or two, completed the task and was like that.

But little is written about it.

Not the best times. They are not to be remembered. A huge landing of the Germans was on ZIL, many trade delegations. Go follow. The most difficult years for our special services. It happened that among the terry spies suddenly appeared in Moscow and our agents, such as Harnack, who went down in history as one of the leaders of the "Red Chapel". Or they set up air communication, flew to Moscow from Berlin and Koenigsberg with landings in our cities of their Lufthansa. And instead of girls - stewardesses in aprons - only brave guys - stewards with excellent bearing. But they also changed: two or three flights, and another team. This is how the German navigators from the Luftwaffe studied the routes.

But I read in the memoirs of fascist intelligence officers that there were few permanent German spies in Moscow. And therefore in Berlin they used every chance to send their own at least for a while. What about ours? Did you get to Berlin?

Ours also flew there. But in small groups. Until the NKVD decides who can fly, who will be released ...

I would like to ask you about the complicated story of the Soviet pilot Alekseev, who mysteriously died while testing a new aircraft model.

There was such a German squadron under the command of the world ace Theodor Rovel, who was named after the commander during his lifetime. And at heights inaccessible to pilots of other countries, she flew over all the countries that Hitler subsequently attacked.

In German sources, they write modestly about her. They flew at high altitudes, took pictures. And that's it. Who flew? Where? What squadron is Rovel? At first, Hitler seemed to have ordered her not to violate the borders of the USSR, so as not to suggest thoughts of non-compliance with the pact. Then, closer to the summer of 1941, he removed all previous restrictions. If you believe the rumors, which one would like to call ridiculous, then Rovel's squadron flew almost to Moscow. Just a young aviator Rust.

Yes, there is still work to be done by our researchers, including intelligence historians. And indeed there are photographs of Leningrad taken by the pilots of Rovel. But then our pilot Mikhail Alekseev appeared and on the experimental engines of the I-16 fighter began to climb to heights close to the German ones. And suddenly he died in one of the flights. Here, not the Germans, but the Japanese began to roll up to the test engineer, senior lieutenant Rudolf Schmidt, and were keenly interested in the fate of Alekseev. After all, Schmidt, according to legend, worked in Fili, at a factory built by the Germans. They are not here now, but who knows, perhaps they left behind agents or people who owe them something? By all indications, cautious Germans acted through the curious Japanese. Kuznetsov informed his superiors about the interest that had arisen, gave the Japanese a half-truthful version that suited them. True, maybe he overestimated the ceiling that Alekseev reached. However, what actually happened to Alekseev, how he died, is unknown.

Linguist from mother nature

Teodor Kirillovich, what is this confusion with the names of Kuznetsov? There is a myth that, having come to intelligence, he received a new name.

But this is not entirely a myth, only the NKVD has nothing to do with it. Kuznetsov was born on July 27, 1911 in the village of Zyryanka, Kamyshlovskiy district, Perm province. At birth, he was named Nikanor, at home - Nika. The guy did not like the name Nikanor, and in 1931 he changed it to Nikolai. But some confusion, discrepancies really remained. Fyodor Belousov, a friend of Kuznetsov’s youth, told me that when Nikolai Ivanovich’s relatives and classmates found out about the awarding of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to a certain Nikolai Kuznetsov, they thought it was a namesake. Even sister Lydia and brother Victor remained in the dark for a long time. It was believed that he was missing. After all, there was no exact confirmation of his death: even in the decree they did not write that “posthumously”. Still, in spite of everything, there were some faint hopes that the scout would be found. And in Moscow, the true biography of Kuznetsov was so classified that the Diploma of the Presidium of the Supreme Council on awarding him the title of Hero remained undelivered to his family. At the end of the war, it was generally lost, and only in 1965 was a duplicate made.

Some of Kuznetsov's biographers believed that Nikolai Ivanovich was supposedly an ethnic German, a native of a German colony, of whom there were many before the Great Patriotic War. This explains the excellent knowledge of the language.

His father Ivan Pavlovich, like his mother Anna Pavlovna, are native Russian people. Father served before the revolution in the grenadier regiment in St. Petersburg. And they didn’t take weaklings into the grenadiers. Pulled the strap for seven years. For marksmanship, he was awarded prizes from the young Tsar Nicholas II: he brought a watch, a silver ruble and a bluish mug with portraits of the emperor and empress. However, he was not a nobleman, a white officer: he fought in the Red Army at Tukhachevsky, then at Eikhe. He beat Kolchak, reached as far as Krasnoyarsk, but caught typhus and was fired at the age of 45, as the clerk of the Fifth Army of the Eastern Front wrote, "in pursuance of an order to a primitive state." And not a fist, as other writers of everyday life claim. When Nikolai Kuznetsov was accused of concealing information about his prosperous family and expelled from the Komsomol for this, his mother gave her son a certificate. Even at that troubled time, the local authorities were not afraid to confirm: “Kuznetsov Ivan Pavlovich during his lifetime was engaged exclusively in agriculture, was not engaged in trade and did not exploit hired labor.”

Where did Kuznetsov get such talent for languages?

And from all the same nature. A boy from the Ural village of Zyryanka with 84 households and 396 inhabitants mastered German perfectly. Linguist Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov was a genius. Yes, and he was incredibly lucky with foreign teachers. So fate developed - in his wilderness, from where it was 93 versts to the nearest county town, educated people were brought to teach in gymnasiums, and, fortunately, the village boy Nika Kuznetsov gained knowledge from them. At the Talitskaya seven-year school, German and French were taught by Nina Nikolaevna Avtokratova. A school teacher in a distant Ural village was educated at one time in Switzerland. Kuznetsov's fascination with languages ​​was considered a whim. And that is why his friendship with the teacher of labor Franz Frantsevich Yavurek, a former prisoner of war who settled in those parts, seemed mysterious to his classmates. I picked up colloquial speech, lively phrases and expressions from the soldier's lexicon, which could not have been in the dictionary of the most intelligent teacher. I chatted a lot with the pharmacist of the local pharmacy, the Austrian Krause. When I worked in Kudymkar, I surprisingly quickly mastered Komi, difficult, like all languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric group. He even wrote poetry on it, which the ubiquitous Chekists found out about. After studying for only a year in Tyumen, he joined the Esperantists' club and translated his favorite Lermontov's Borodino into Esperanto. In the technical school I came across the German "Encyclopedia of Forest Science", which no one had opened before him, and translated it into Russian. And already in Sverdlovsk, where he worked as a secret agent, he became friends with an actress of the city theater - a Polish woman by nationality. The result of the novel is the knowledge of the Polish language, which also came in handy for him. In the partisan detachment "Winners", operating in Ukraine, he spoke Ukrainian. The Spaniards, who served in the forests near Rovno in Medvedev's detachment, suddenly became worried. They reported to the commander: the fighter Grachev understands that when we speak our native language, he is not the person he claims to be. And it was Kuznetsov, with his linguistic talent, who also opened up an understanding of a previously unfamiliar language. German has many dialects. In addition to the classic Kuznetsov owned another five or six. This helped Lieutenant Siebert more than once when dealing with German officers. It is clear that for the illegal Kuznetsov, who acted under a legendary biography, a meeting with a native of that German city where the intelligence officer was supposedly born would have been almost a collapse. Kuznetsov-Siebert, quickly catching what part of Germany his interlocutor was from, began to speak with a slight touch of the dialect of the land located at the other end of the country.

And, perhaps, the conversation would go more frankly with fellow countrymen?

The worst thing for an illegal intelligence officer is to run into a fellow countryman: who taught chemistry at your favorite school? And here it is failure, very close. In Germany, t? Kuznetsov never visited.

Appearance of Lieutenant Siebert

And how did Lieutenant Paul Siebert come about?

For almost a year Kuznetsov languished behind our lines. He was indignant, wrote reports, asked to go to the front.

I was told that Nikolai Ivanovich, even before the "Winners", managed to visit the rear of the Germans. But the story is vague, I do not quite understand. A reconnaissance operation in the Kalinin area was mentioned.

More like the Kalinin Front. And for me its details are not clear. Kuznetsov was abandoned behind German lines. He spent several days there, the military were satisfied with his activities. Here, perhaps, is all that I managed to find out. But again they were in no hurry to throw Nikolai in the rear of the Germans. Finally, a scout was included in Medvedev's group. The order was signed by People's Commissar of the NKVD Merkulov - the highest level, already talking about what results were expected from Kuznetsov.

At the beginning of 1942, documents of killed German officers were found near Moscow. Paul Siebert's signs - height, eye color, hair, even blood type - well, everything agreed with Kuznetsov's. True, Siebert was in 1913, and Kuznetsov was two years older. By the way, Siebert is from Koenigsberg, now our Kaliningrad.

Several months of intense preparation went on. Skydiving and shooting from different types of weapons were not the most difficult tests in it. Although it suddenly turned out that an excellent hunter Kuznetsov perfectly shoots from a carbine and very unimportant - from a pistol. It was obvious to Kuznetsov too. Three weeks later, he was already hitting targets with both hands: from parabellum and from "Walter".

Kuznetsov had to understand the structure of a foreign army, to master slang that was unusual even for him. It was not easy to delve into the intricate system of German intelligence services.

He was shown films with movie star Marika Rökk. He saw the pictures of the Fuhrer's favorite, Leni Riefenstahl, who put her talent to sing of fascism (and suddenly, in our time, has been proclaimed almost an opponent of the Nazi regime). He read primitive German novels found in the field bags of dead German officers. He learned to whistle his favorite soldiers' melodies like "Lili Marlene".

Then, under the guise of an infantry lieutenant, Kuznetsov was placed in an officer's barracks in a Soviet prisoner of war camp near Krasnogorsk. He was careful. The slightest mistake - and the bunk neighbors would not have spared the decoy duck. And the discipline, to the surprise of Kuznetsov, among the captured Germans was strong. And they were arrogant, confident that soon they would take Moscow anyway, that this imprisonment was temporary.

The special agent was tested, did not show up anywhere, the Nazis took him for their own. In the camp drama circle, where he studied (God, he was like that), he was set as an example to others for his purely literary pronunciation. He managed to pick up the slang words that were so lacking. He even made friends with whom he agreed to meet after the war, until the end of which "it was not long." And, perhaps, he understood the main thing - the confrontation between the two antipode systems is serious and for a long time. Kuznetsov did not notice any traces of the decay of the German army, which suffered its first defeat near Moscow, about which our newspapers and radio broadcast.

The authorities were pleased with such "penetration". After all, it was difficult to imagine how the "replanting" would be accepted - someone else's trench language, unusual manners. And the actor's gift of complete reincarnation, which opened at the same time, turned Kuznetsov into a real illegal immigrant.

He languished in anticipation of the case, his reports with a request to send him to any task accumulated with his superiors, until, finally, the long-awaited decision was made.

A fighter Nikolai Vasilyevich Grachev appeared in Medvedev's "Winners" detachment. And in the city of Rovno - Lieutenant Siebert. Due to two wounds, according to legend, he was "temporarily unfit for front-line service." They sent Kuznetsov for a short time. No one could have imagined that he would last almost a year and a half. This is a unique case, a record - to endure so much with fake documents. After all, a deep check would instantly reveal it. And he gave no reason for the slightest suspicion. They would send documents to Berlin - and the end of the epic.

Why do you think the chief lieutenant, and then captain Siebert, who personally destroyed a lot of fascist bosses, managed to hold out for so long?

He was a great explorer. Yes, today it seems unbelievable: a Russian man, a civilian, who never served a day in any army and did not even have a military rank, who had never been to Germany, acted under a false name for 16 months. And the small city of Rovno was watched through and through by the Nazi special services - counterintelligence, the secret field police, the field gendarmerie, the local military gendarmerie, and finally, the SD. Kuznetsov, on the other hand, not only carried out the death sentences of fascist executioners, but also constantly communicated with officers of the Wehrmacht, special services, and senior officials of the occupation authorities. How much valuable information he conveyed! What was worth the mere data about the impending assassination attempt in Tehran on Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill!

And if the Germans still wanted to check the identity of Siebert? The quartermaster, albeit after a serious wound, but he remained in Rovno for too long.

Much of this depended on two factors. The first one is from the legend. The second factor is the skill of the scout. With skill - everything is clear. And the legend was brilliantly crafted. According to her, Siebert did not at all belong to the quartermaster rats, which the front-line soldiers did not like. After all, he was wounded in heavy battles near Moscow, as evidenced by the patch on the tunic. What huge losses suffered by his unit then, even the headquarters was completely destroyed! And he began to fight even "from the Polish campaign", from September 1939, when he earned the Iron Cross, which always flaunted on his uniform - albeit of the second degree.

Soon Kuznetsov was lucky: "his" 76th division was destroyed in 1943 near Stalingrad. It is unlikely that any of Siebert's former real brother-soldiers survived. Unless he was taken prisoner. And if you go to Berlin for an in-depth check, where you could dig deep into the archives, then you needed some specific reason, a clear suspicion. But Kuznetsov-Siebert did not give them. He followed the little things with surprising thoroughness even for Medvedev. Somehow it seemed to him that the German officer uniform he put on was not sufficiently ironed. There was no iron in the detachment. And then the uniform was smoothed out ... with an ax heated on a fire by Simone Krimker. For the future illegal intelligence officer, this was an excellent lesson: there can be no trifles in this profession. Or another episode. Back in Moscow, a men's ring with an intricate monogram fell into the hands of the Chekists. And at the request of Kuznetsov, the jeweler redid the engraving on PS - Paul Siebert. When going to Rovno in the uniform of a chief lieutenant, Kuznetsov put an expensive piece of jewelry on his finger when he wanted to impress an important and necessary interlocutor. A tiny detail - but it also complemented the appearance of an illegal immigrant in a natural and believable way.

I met with Colonel of Foreign Intelligence Pavel Georgievich Gromushkin, who straightened out the documents for Nikolai Ivanovich. He was already over ninety, and he perfectly remembered Kuznetsov-Siebert, he only believed that it was too early to reveal this military page. He said something, but asked "not to publish yet." (This "so far" has passed, and therefore I will allow myself to tell something in this book.) Former printing engineer Gromushkin prepared documents for virtually all illegal immigrants, including his friend Colonel Fisher - Abel. Although he was able to make a document in any language.

Dmitry Medvedev's former deputy for intelligence, Lukin, told me that, according to his calculations, Siebert's documents were checked more than seventy times on a variety of occasions. And Kuznetsov reported on each case.

But just don't think that Kuznetsov was some kind of lone wolf in Rovno. Under his command, scouts acted, with him abandoned, and fighters of the Red Army who fled from captivity, local residents. He was reliably covered by the most experienced Chekists from Medvedev's detachment.

In intelligence, especially illegal, not to believe in your star means to fail from the very beginning. Yes, Kuznetsov believed. Faith has almost always helped. And when a real hunt began for Kuznetsov's Siebert, Nikolai Ivanovich took it without much fear. Perhaps even more caution should be exercised here. But how? Lay low, refuse to carry out acts of retaliation? No, it was not in his spirit, Kuznetsov did not go for this. I played Russian roulette with fate. He was a brilliantly resourceful person. One day a German officer from the special services suggested that he take a dip in the river. Kuznetsov quickly came up with an excuse for refusing.

According to legend, he has two wounds, and not a single scar on his body. Kuznetsov knew how much he was needed, and never allowed himself to relax.

mission Impossible

Here I will interrupt the conversation with the respected Teodor Kirillovich. It is a pity that soon our frank friendly meetings were interrupted forever. But there were topics about which I also told Gladkov with the utmost frankness possible at that time.

In this chapter, I do not aim to tell about all the exploits of Kuznetsov. Rather, I am trying to show the actions of the great intelligence officer in the harshest military conditions, where the price of any mistake is death. Some modern books disgust me, where the fascist counterintelligence is portrayed as stupid, clumsy, constantly losing to ours. I also don’t like translated literature, such as Schellenberg’s memoirs, where the fascists justify themselves by blaming all the troubles and defeats on Hitler, and brag about the Russian agents they recruited - overwhelmingly, the frame-ups of the Soviet state security.

In the Third Reich, it was possible to create a total system of investigation and detection. It reminds me very much of the system of indirect signs that the counterintelligence of Germany used in the fight against the ubiquitous Stasi, perhaps inherited from compatriots.

Isn't that why we didn't have our own agents in the Gestapo except for Lehman - Breitenbach, who was discovered and killed back in December 1942? Yes, and attempts to send in well-trained German anti-fascists to restore contact with the still functioning Red Chapel ended in the arrest of our agents and the tragic destruction of the entire Chapel.

Let us recall that successful assassination attempts made directly in Germany on fascist bosses are not included in the long list of successful operations. The liquidations of Heydrich, von Kube and those who were punished by Kuznetsov were carried out not on German, but on foreign soil.

In the same series of the most difficult operations of retaliation, I put Nikolai Kuznetsov's hunt for Gauleiter Koch. The sadist, executioner and punisher, Soviet intelligence was obliged to destroy, as well as the viceroy of the Fuhrer in Belarus, Cuba, on Stalin's personal order. And if Troyan, Mazanik, Osipova coped with the task, then Kuznetsov did not succeed with Koch. And honestly, I don't think it could. The mission was obviously impossible. Kuznetsov was aware of this, painfully experiencing and reproaching himself for his failure.

How much effort was spent on finding out when Koch would appear in Rivne. With great difficulty, Kuznetsov sometimes obtained outdated information: on February 2, 1943, he became aware that on January 27, Koch flew to Rovno and flew to Lutsk on the same day. Or here is a message dated February 20 of the same year: instead of Koch, his deputy is in charge of all affairs in Rovno. Or Kuznetsov learns from a familiar German officer: the Reichskommissar only occasionally leaves for Vinnitsa from Königsberg.

Shortly before April 20, 1943, luck finally smiled on Kuznetsov. On Hitler's birthday, Reichskommissar Erich Koch was supposed to speak in Rovno in front of a crowd of people. The plan seemed relatively simple - Kuznetsov's group one by one makes their way closer to the podium, throws grenades at it and tries to hide. Nikolai Ivanovich left a farewell letter to Medvedev: it is physically unrealistic to commit an assassination attempt and leave the square crammed with people. But he, like his partisan scouts, is ready for self-sacrifice. However, Koch did not come to Rovno.

Another plan called "Amateur Action" failed - a group of two dozen partisans dressed in German uniforms approached Koch's residence in Rovno, singing the song they had learned in German, stormed the house and killed the Reichskommissar. But going to a well-guarded residence was pure suicide, with no chance of success.

Once the exact date of Koch's arrival in Rovno became known. A partisan ambush awaited him near the airfield. With some luck, the operation promised to be successful. But the fascist did not arrive. Instead of Rivne, he went to the funeral of a party ally who died in a car accident.

Attempts to destroy Koch by military means could be continued, forgetting about the risk. The question was different. They did not promise any success. And then the experienced Chekists Medvedev, Lukin and Grachev took up the operational development of the assassination attempt. The opportunity to learn about Koch's plans came unexpectedly. Chief Corporal Schmidt, a civilian cynologist, trained a dog to guard Koch. He himself had to hand over the black bloodhound to the Reichskommissar, who was going to arrive in Rovno on May 25, 1943 and stay with the dog next to Koch for ten days.

Siebert and Schmidt developed friendly relations, the chief lieutenant fueled them by treating the greedy chief corporal in a restaurant. And Schmidt's dog also began to recognize Siebert. Trained not to approach strangers, she gradually got used to her master's friend and even took food from Siebert's hands. But it was not yet clear how it could be used in the future.