On March 6, 2020, the Russian state-owned news agency
RIA Novosti published an interview of Tamara Netyksa who was declassified as
a KGB/SVR illegal intelligence officer by the SVR director Sergey Naryshkin on
January 28, 2020. Below is my English translation of the interview available
only on this site.
Former Illegal Intelligence Officer Tamara Netyksa: While Undercover Abroad, They Would Declare Love to Me
RIA Novosti March 6, 2020
An unusual event in the history of Russian foreign intelligence took place in January of this year - the director of the SVR Sergey Naryshkin for the first time publicly named the names of seven illegal intelligence officers who made a great contribution to protecting the interests of Russia and ensuring its security. Among them - Hero of Russia, retired Major General Vitaly Vyacheslavovich Netyksa (1946-2011) and retired Colonel Tamara Ivanovna Netyksa (born in 1949). The Netyksa couple worked in Latin America from 1978 to 1998, in the countries with strict administrative and police regimes and under the conditions that involved a risk to life. While abroad, the couple had a son and a daughter. According to SVR, Tamara Netyksa “deliberately took justified risks in solving operational problems while working under intense pressure [and] provided effective assistance to her husband in intelligence activities under the special conditions.”
In this interview with RIA Novosti on the eve of International Women's Day on March 8, Netyksa explained how in the family of illegal intelligence officers the wife can assist the husband, why it is that the more the people in the foreign country know about you, the better, why one needs to know how to give gifts to the relevant people, and what is so special about the Russian borsch made in the Latin American manner.
- Tamara Ivanovna, intelligence experts have long known that being a female intelligence officer is by no means an auxiliary profession and that women in this matter are not only not inferior to men, but often perform much better. But it’s always interesting to hear what the women who have worked in intelligence themselves say about their special qualities and requirements, especially in the case of illegal officers.
- I’ll tell you what, in my opinion, the wife of an illegal officer should do if she is traveling to work with her husband on a long-term assignment. And it does not matter which country is involved.
There is nothing insignificant in our work, so the wife must be well-versed in all matters concerning illegal intelligence. If that is not so, then it is better for her not to go, [because] she will only create inconvenience to her husband.
The husband-wife couple is like a work-team, but the husband is always the leader. This is logical. My husband Talik would say, for example: "It is necessary to do so-and-so." And I would say: "I think we should do it like this." And he would answer: "You know, you're right." Or he would say: "No, we will do another way." He had the last word.
- What roles should a woman play in such a work-team?
- She must always bear in mind that the wife of an illegal intelligence officer will have to take responsibility for the birth and upbringing of children. Therefore, she must be in good health and be prepared for the birth of a child. For illegal intelligence officers, the presence of children is important, because the children “strengthen” the couple, make it, if I may say so, more real, make its position more grounded.
In addition, the wife of an illegal intelligence officer must be very well-versed in the means of keeping up the communication with the Center. Even if this part of the work is the responsibility of her husband, that’s important all the same - because at some point he might be busy, for example, he might go on a business trip, and you can’t remain without the communication channel. Therefore, the wife must know these things.
Another big issue concerns security. This issue is closely related to the work of the wife. [Here] the first component is security at home. A couple may have a household assistant - for example, a cleaning lady or, say, a nanny. And you have to be sure of the qualities of this person. This determination is made by the wife.
Secondly, every so often, intelligence officers need to conduct verification checks to be make sure that they did not attract the interest of the local counterintelligence. But the husband, as a rule, is very busy and, for example, he may not have the time to conduct a verification procedure. And, therefore, this is also the responsibility of the wife.
In addition, the wife should always look good, she should be very pretty. Illegal intelligence officers must take into consideration their numerous local acquaintances. Suppose you live in a house with a concierge and many neighbors. [And] on the street, there are a lot of shops. Everyone there knows each other, they constantly greet each other. And everyone knows you. And it is very important that everyone knows everything about you.
- And, in this way, to unwittingly support your cover? So that there would be no blind spots regarding you and, as a result, no excessive interest in you or, God forbid, suspicions?
- Exactly! Ask our concierge there and she would tell absolutely everything about us. What kind of people we are, where we were born, what we do, what children we have, what we eat, how much we earn. If everyone knows everything about you, then you do not attract attention. And this is also the work of the wife.
Another very important issue is to know how to give gifts.
- Is that really very important?
- Of course! After all, you can give a person a gift and shock him by doing so.
- And that is exactly what the intelligence officer should not do?
- Never. So, you need to be able to pick up an appropriate gift, maybe something made by yourself, so that the person likes it and does not wonder: "Why did they give it to me? Is there something behind it?"
Your home should be also very comfortable. It should always be in order. A guest can drop by at any moment, and he should feel welcome. The household issues - they are also the responsibility of the wife. But, of course, one must live modestly, without excesses.
- Tamara Ivanovna, you said that the wife of an illegal intelligence officer should be very pretty. But, looking at your photos with Vitaly Vyacheslavovich, I must say that you were not just an attractive, but also a truly beautiful couple.
- Well, it’s been a long time ago.
- It’d be difficult to find any representative of the “stronger sex” who would disagree. My question is this: Latin America is universally perceived as the place of hot-blooded romances, so how much did the local men come after you - well, they would definitely notice you, right? Did it interfere with your work?
- Of course, they were very attentive to me, there were even love declarations. But in no case did this interfere with my work. You must be able to control yourself.
- At one time, illegal intelligence officer Lyudmila Ivanovna Nuykina described how she and her husband celebrated our holidays abroad but were very carefully not to attract anyone's attention even with some unusual food aromas from the kitchen. For example, on March 8, she would delicately prepare dumplings [pelmeni]. Did you celebrate any holidays, and if so, how?
- We also celebrated our holidays. But I’ll say right away that I didn’t prepare dumplings. If I prepared a salad, for example, the Olivier salad [a very popular holiday dish in Russia], then I would do it in a different way. I had different ingredients abroad, [and] of course, I did not use any sausages. We didn’t have vodka, we never drank it there. We had champagne.
But, on the same floor [of the apartment building], there was a family of Russian descent, though they did not know a word of Russian. And the wife cooked borsch. Once she brought it to us to try. And it was completely cold!
- And she did not even suspect that in front of her, there was somebody who knew how a real borsch tasted?
- Yes. But we really liked that soup. And my daughter then asked me: "Make me that borscht." That's what she called it - “borscht.” I prepared it, but very rarely.
- At least in terms of that dish, you could, if need be, explain that you got the recipe from your neighbor.
- Of course. But there was never any need. We did not go beyond certain limits and did do anything risky. For all the years working abroad, Talik and I did not say a single word in Russian to each other.
But there was one such occasion. This was at the very beginning of our work when I spent some time with a local family. That was the only time in my life when before going to bed, instead of Spanish “buenos noches,” I said “good night” in Russian. But luckily no one noticed. And, probably, it was necessary for this to happen once so that I never made that mistake again.
- Tamara Ivanovna, what would you wish to say the girls who are recruited to serve in intelligence?
- The most important thing is patriotism. This is the foundation of everything and should be there, no matter what. It should be something deep in you. And I would also advise them to develop themselves in every way, to expand their horizons, their skills. They should know a lot and have many hobbies.
For an illegal intelligence officer, it is all the more necessary to know a lot, otherwise he will not do a good job. Just mastering the language perfectly is not enough – that’s like going abroad as a mere tourist.
Please understand, you must make people interested in you. This is the only way to establish contacts successfully. And [the only way] to keep your husband interested in you and proud of what you are doing.
