How was the fate of a Soviet diplomat recruited by the CIA: the case of Arkady Shevchenko

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the late 1970s, this case was called a disgrace of Soviet diplomacy, and the damage caused by the brilliant diplomat and favorite of Andrei Gromyko himself was not even taken into account. Thanks to powerful support, diplomat Arkady Shevchenko achieved unprecedented heights, was treated kindly by the authorities, enjoyed the trust of high officials and held a serious position at the UN. But one day he made the decision to go to the other side. Did it bring him happiness?

Brilliant career

Arkady Shevchenko, in his youth, set himself the goal of making a successful career. After entering MGIMO, from all his classmates, he chose Anatoly, the son of Andrei Gromyko, as his friend, who would later be called the most powerful foreign minister of the Soviet Union.

At the same time, Arkady Shevchenko met the beautiful Leongina (Lina), who became his wife and mother of his two children. The girl's mother worked in trade and, just like her daughter, dreamed of a brilliant career as a son-in-law. After the birth of her son, Lina Shevchenko decided not to return to the institute, but to devote herself to her husband and family, so that nothing prevented Arkady from rising to the heights of power. The family, surprisingly, lived in abundance. They were fully supported by the caring mother-in-law Anna Ksaveryevna.

He received a diploma from MGIMO in 1954, but studied for two more years in graduate school, and in 1956, after defending his Ph. D. thesis, he was admitted to the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The diligence and diligence of the young diplomat was immediately noticed, and his wife and mother-in-law helped Arkady to build a career with all their might, making acquaintances with the right people and presenting gifts to those on whom the fate of the young diplomat could depend.

All efforts were not in vain: the professional life of Arkady Shevchenko was developing brilliantly, by the age of 43 he became the UN Deputy Secretary General, being the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the USSR. No one in the history of Soviet diplomacy has ever achieved such success at such a young age. In Moscow, the family lived in a luxurious four-room apartment; they spent the weekend at a beautiful dacha near Moscow. The wife of the diplomat was carried away by collecting antiques, and Arkady Nikolayevich himself had already become one of those whose patronage was highly valued.

Salvation or betrayal

Shevchenko himself in his book "Break with Moscow" wrote that he was no longer interested in welfare, he was already disappointed in ideology and did not see the point in what he was doing, and the prospect of fighting for the "party trough" all his life did not appeal to him. He wanted to stay in the United States, asked for help from an American colleague who also worked at the UN, and he already introduced Shevchenko to a CIA agent. The latter told Arkady Nikolaevich: he can help, but his right to stay in America must be earned.

But Arkady Shevchenko's colleagues had their own version of what was happening. They thought that Arkady Nikolaevich, having come close to the pinnacle of power, had become too relaxed. He increasingly drank alcohol and showed an increased interest in the fair sex in search of new and new experiences. It was at this stage, as some members of the Soviet special services believed, that a lady who was skillfully substituted for him by the CIA and who managed to film all the spicy scenes turned out to be in his bed.

Under pressure or of his own free will, Arkady Shevchenko became a CIA informant, working with all possible diligence. In fact, he informed the CIA about all the Soviet agents he knew, passed on secret information about the upcoming negotiations and the position of the Soviet leadership in them. From him came messages with news from Moscow, which he received, masterly forcing his colleagues arriving from the USSR to talk about it.

At the same time, the Foreign Ministry did not even know what role Shevchenko plays in their failures at different levels. And the high officials of the Foreign Ministry simply brushed aside the reports of the KGB resident in New York Yuri Drozdov. They did not believe in Shevchenko's betrayal, but the resident did not stop drawing the attention of the management: Arkady Shevchenko lives completely beyond his means, rests in an expensive hotel in Miami, is often heavily drunk, and from time to time shows incomprehensible anxiety.

It was Drozdov who suggested recalling Shevchenko to Moscow, but Andrei Gromyko, who headed the USSR Foreign Ministry, did not believe the dispatch from New York, and the KGB leadership gave the order not to touch Shevchenko. Nevertheless, Drozdov disobeyed the order and in each of his reports cited new evidence of Shevchenko's connection with the Americans. Such persistence could not be ignored, Arkady Nikolayevich was "invited" to Moscow to provide advice. But the diplomat quickly realized what he was actually being summoned for.

When Lina Shevchenko saw a note from her husband on the morning of April 8, she did not believe in the reality of what was happening and suggested that her husband had been kidnapped by force. She could not imagine how he, a Soviet diplomat, could ask for asylum in the United States. The embassy even believed in the version of his wife, but the meeting organized by the representatives of the United States left no chance: Arkady Shevchenko personally announced the decision.

Life after escape

The fugitive diplomat's wife could not survive her husband's betrayal and committed suicide in May 1978. She was offered asylum in the United States, but she refused. Most of all, she was crippled by the ease with which her husband abandoned her and the children. His decision also influenced the career of his son Gennady, who also built a career in the diplomatic field. He was recalled from a foreign business trip the next day after his father's escape and reported what had happened in Moscow.

Arkady Nikolayevich believed that the Soviet special services dealt with Lina in order to avoid the publicity of some hard-hitting facts, and at the same time to hurt him. But the diplomat's son denies this version.

The former diplomat himself settled down very well in America. He gave paid lectures around the country, got a professor position at the university, and the publication of the book "Break with Moscow" brought him a million dollars in income.

Less than six months after the death of his first wife, he married an American journalist. He had no reason to complain about life in the United States: Shevchenko owned three luxurious houses, later Anna and Gennady also moved to America.

In 1990, the second wife of Arkady Shevchenko passed away, and he himself suddenly became very devout. It was in the church that he met his third wife Natalya Osinina, who was 23 years younger and had a teenage daughter.

His third marriage turned out to be little like a fairy tale. Natalia cleverly dealt with her husband's wealth, and after a divorce in 1996, he declared himself complete bankruptcy. And the last wife wanted to receive from him maintenance in the amount of half of Arkady Shevchenko's pension. The end of the diplomat was sad: he lived out his life in a rented one-room apartment, which was paid for by his daughter, and in February 1998 he died of cirrhosis of the liver.

Information rules the world, so every state has secret agents of intelligence networks on its account. These mysterious people are waging a dangerous war in a time of peace for the rest. Living among us, they imperceptibly influence the balance of power on the political, military and economic maps of the world. But what happens to them if they fail?