A successful diplomat who became a disgrace to the USSR, or How the favorite of the head of the Soviet Foreign Ministry fled to the USA

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

One of the most famous Soviet defectors in the 70s was the diplomat and closest friend of the family of the head of the Foreign Ministry, Arkady Shevchenko. Then few people could understand what this person lacked. He had a dusty, interesting job abroad, fabulous income, and a loving family. Shevchenko's children studied at eminent universities, their further career successes under their father's wing were guaranteed. He betrayed everyone: family, patron, country. Then they said that there was no such shame in the USSR yet.

Darling of fate

Arkady Shevchenko was always lucky. He was brought up in the Donbass family of an authoritative doctor who treated Makhno during the Civil War, and later enjoyed the confidence of the Soviet elite. In 1935, the family of the future diplomat moved to Crimea, where his father headed the sanatorium. Back in the Stalin years, Arkady became a student at MGIMO, graduating with honors. An excellent education alone could not guarantee a brilliant career. And only a few got to the posts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not to mention the permanent deployment abroad. Shevchenko's rapid career was influenced by two fatal acquaintances, to which he subsequently responded with betrayal.

The right environment

At the institute, Arkady became close to the son of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gromyko and quickly became a member of a high-ranking family. In the same period, Shevchenko met the beautiful Leongina, a whirlwind romance with whom turned into a wedding. Lina's mother had been involved in large trade for a long time, had money, connections and simply adored her son-in-law. Her financial capabilities made it possible to present the right people with gorgeous gifts, which had a beneficial effect on the first diplomatic steps of the young Shevchenko. Because of her love for diamonds, young Leongina also became friends with her family.

Year after year, Shevchenko grew higher and higher. A series of lengthy American business trips began. In 1970, Shevchenko was appointed adviser to Minister Andrei Gromyko, and two years later - UN Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs and UN Security Council affairs in the rank of extraordinary and plenipotentiary Soviet ambassador. At that time, not a single diplomat in the USSR was able to reach such a level at the age of 43. True, the "well-wishers" suspected that the price of the issue was a brooch with dozens of diamonds presented to Gromyko's wife.

Dreams Come True

Shevchenko's wife and mother-in-law were happy: all plans for a brilliant future came true. Lina traveled freely abroad, returning to a luxurious Moscow apartment-museum and carefree spending time with growing children in a dacha near Moscow. The couple began collecting antiques, replenishing the collection both through their own generous acquisitions and gifts to their husband. The moment came when there were many who wanted to conquer the patron saint in the person of Arkady Nikolaevich. A rare employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not dream, like Shevchenko, to communicate so closely with Gromyko himself and spend the weekend with his loved ones.

The life of a Soviet diplomat in shining New York also played with colors. High wages, dusty working days, access to any capitalist goods. And my head doesn't hurt for Moscow either. The family is well off, to put it mildly. Later, when the escape of the diplomat was followed by a search of his apartment with an inventory of property, the investigators had to work for more than one day. Even with the condition that the cost of antiques in the inventories was deliberately underestimated at times, only paintings, icons and figurines were counted at 250 thousand rubles. As Shevchenko's son recalled, a couple of Rublev icons were recorded as usual.

The diplomat was homesick …

People who knew Shevchenko noticed that, leaning against the very heights of the diplomatic ceiling, he was, as they say, bored. Life was often diluted with alcohol and amorous stories. But close friendship with the minister did not allow immorality to affect his career. There is even such a version of Shevchenko's betrayal. Allegedly, taking advantage of the weakness of Arkady Nikolaevich, the American special services set a trap for him, filming a deeply drunk diplomat in the arms of local beauties. And after that, the repentant and sober Shevchenko was forced to cooperate with blackmail. He himself claimed that he had accepted the American protectorate solely for ideological reasons.

After turning into an informer for the CIA, the UN Deputy Secretary General began to turn over all the KGB fighters he knew under cover. With his light hand, the Americans knew about the plans of the Soviet side long before their implementation. Inviting his colleagues arriving in New York to dine, Shevchenko found out fresh and necessary information straight from Moscow in confidential conversations. The KGB began to understand that the Americans had a major informer, and suspicions related to the name of Arkady Nikolaevich were also voiced. But Gromyko suppressed such assumptions. When Shevchenko was nevertheless summoned for a conversation in Moscow, he sensed something was wrong and asked the CIA to organize his escape with a move to permanent residence. On the evening of April 6, 1978, leaving his sleeping wife at home, Shevchenko, accompanied by CIA agents, left the apartment and no longer even tried to contact the abandoned family. Lina's wife could not stand the betrayal and, refusing the Americans' offer to follow her husband, she hanged herself in a wardrobe. The son-diplomat paid for his father's sins with career prospects.

Meanwhile, Shevchenko's affairs in the United States were going brilliantly. He immediately married, became a professor at a prestigious university, received a villa as a gift, wrote a book about the break with the USSR, which earned about $ 1 million. In 1990, oncology claimed the life of his second wife, which greatly shocked the ex-diplomat. Having struck religion, he became a frequent visitor to the church in Washington, where the emigrants visited. There he was introduced to a young Muscovite Natasha. According to some reports, this was done on purpose, as revenge on the defector. The compatriot quickly mastered all the accumulations of the elderly Shevchenko, leaving him with debts. Before marrying her, Arkady owned three houses in the United States and a huge apartment in the Canary Islands. By 1995, his account was empty. And in February 1998, Shevchenko died alone within the walls of a rented apartment from cirrhosis of the liver.

Of course, this was not the only escape from the USSR. So, The creator of propaganda porcelain also left the country of the Soviets.