Veteran journalist Nikolay Dolgopolov, now deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Russian state-owned daily newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, is one of the most popular writers on intelligence history in contemporary Russia. He has written the biographies of Kim Philby, Rudolf Abel (Viliam Fisher), Nadezhda Troyan, and Gevork Vartanyan. In early 2020, he published his memoir From Dolgopolov’s Notebook: From Francoise Sagan to Rudolf Abel.
Dolgopolov's text about the Netyksa couple was published in the May 31, 2020 issue of Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Below is my English translation available only on this blog.
Nikolay Dolgopolov: To Love An Illegal
Rossiyskaya Gazeta May 31, 2020.
The story will seem too short. How can it be otherwise considering that Vitaly Vyacheslavovich Netyksa was an illegal intelligence officer? In the foreign intelligence service not known for being generous with decorations and ranks, he was awarded the title of Hero of Russia by a secret decree in 2007, and [earlier] in 2000, promoted to the rank of major general. For more than two decades, he and his wife worked in the "special conditions" abroad. We may perhaps learn at some future date what exactly they did in certain countries with difficult political realities and harsh internal regimes. [At this time] all we can suppose is that the scope of their activities extended to Latin America and beyond.
The official website of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of the Russian Federation states that, after graduating with honors from the Moscow Aviation Institute, Vitaly Vyacheslavovich Netyksa began working at the First Chief Directorate of the KGB in 1972. Having undergone comprehensive training and perfectly mastered Spanish and other languages, he set off with his wife for the first long-term “business trip” in 1978. Moving around countries and regions, he and his wife returned home - we will consider this date correct - in 1998. As a pair of illegal officers, they performed their tasks perfectly.
I will quote excerpts from the SVR website: “Together with my wife, I worked in the countries with tough administrative and police regimes. I courageously overcame difficulties in solving operational tasks. I established a network of agents through which I regularly obtained especially valuable information on the strategic issues concerning the leading Western countries."
In Moscow, Vitaly
Netyksa, a man of the broadest [intellectual] horizons, served in the Center. He developed
state strategies and programs to deal with one of the most important contemporary
areas of foreign intelligence. Together with his associates, he solved the most
complicated problems. He and his wife passed on to the younger generation the
vast experience and deep knowledge of their illegal officers’ profession.
In June 2011, Major General Netyksa retired. A few months later, on September 3, he died. The departure was unexpected, premature: he was only 65 years old. The Hero of Russia is buried in Moscow at the Troyekurovsky cemetery: the resting place of his many foreign intelligence comrades and associates.
For quite a long time, or rather twelve years, I have known Tamara Ivanovna, the wife of Vitaly Vyacheslavovich, and their daughter Lena, a beauty whom one wants to call Lenochka.
At some official events closed to the public, the spouse of Major General Netyksa was introduced as: "Colonel-Illegal Tamara Ivanovna."
She is a kind person. Back in the 2000s, she was granted the right to tell not about herself and her husband, but about their mentor – the Spanish woman, Africa de Las Eras. Las Eras, the recipient of the Order of Lenin, began her work during the years of the Civil War in Spain. Then, on the instructions of Moscow, she performed a special task in Mexico. During World War II, she fought in the special unit "Victors" of Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Medvedev and was a favorite radio operator of the legendary intelligence officer Nikolay Kuznetsov. Then for many years [she worked] in the "special conditions" - from Paris to Montevideo. Eventually she returned home to Moscow, where she became a teacher and friend of Tamara and Vitaly.
Of course, I prepared a long list of questions for Tamara Ivanovna. The Netyksa couple was declassified recently, and I wanted to ask a lot about everything. But Tamara Ivanovna talked about her husband in such a touching, sincere way, while not going beyond the certain restrictions due to secrecy, that I did not want to interrupt. [I knew] there would no revelations anyway and with my questions “who, where, when and how?” I would only confuse and break her line of thought: obviously, it was not worth it. So, the author of this article is not me at all. In this case, direct speech is preferable to any literary techniques.
“The word is given to Colonel-Illegal Tamara Ivanovna," and now we are justified to add - Netyksa:
Everybody loved Vitaly, they affectionately called him Talik. Let's talk a little about the family of Vitaly Vyacheslavovich. How interesting it was! His grandfather was a Populist [Narodnik] who took care of young scientists and craftsmen, wrote books, was closely acquainted with Leo Tolstoy. He taught how to process leather, wood. He was very creative, was forever making something. At the University of the Friendship of Peoples [in Moscow], a professor [later] studied his life and works. The grandfather's books are in the library named after V.I. Lenin, they can be found on the Internet. They discuss the processing of leather, wood and, according to experts, are still relevant and best in their field.
Sometimes people ask
where this last name comes from - Netyksa. We ourselves still do not
know. They are native Muscovites. Grandfather - Mstislav, father - Vyacheslav
Mstislavovich and son - Vitaly Vyacheslavovich. There was a famous
architect and [also] a well-known lawyer in Moscow with the same last name.
My husband’s family came from the intelligentsia, from the nobles, but they did not boast about that. Talik's father was a professor, a well-known scientist, studied railroads, their steam engines. After all, Russia was then a country of the steam locomotives. The hereditary nobleman and son of a Populist [Narodnik], he supported the revolution right away. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin invited him into his circle and sent him to Sweden to buy steam locomotives for the young Soviet state that was trying to stand up on its feet and [needed to use] the rails. They gave him and his associates gold bullion to pay for the purchase, and they departed. Such a great deal of trust! They were at an audience with the King of Sweden, Gustav V. They were able to buy the needed locomotives for the country, which few people wanted to trade with. Then he worked hard, taught at the best universities in the country.
During the war, he was very eager to be sent to the frontlines but was not taken due to his age and to being a well-known scholar. His three sons fought in the war and two died.
His first wife died earlier. Talik was from the second marriage. In 1946, when he was only a few months old, his father was sent to Dnepropetrovsk to head the re-established Institute of Railway Transport. They left for Ukraine. Talik graduated from school there with a gold medal and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute. When he was in his second year, his dad died. Talik was an excellent student, was active in the Komsomol work, but because of the high salary of his father, he did not receive a scholarship. And then a different, harsher life began. He was immediately given an increased scholarship, and from the third year until the end of his studies, Vitaly was the recipient of the Lenin scholarship.
He was able to do a lot, was engaged in the Komsomol work. First, he was the secretary of the Komsomol committee at the department, then the deputy secretary and [ultimately] the secretary of the Komsomol for the entire institute.
The time flew by. The intelligence personnel contacted Vitaly, made him an offer.
But even before that, we met at the Komsomol camp: I was 19 years old, in my second year at the university, he was 22, in his fourth year. And on February 29, 1968, the M.A.I. [Moscow Aviation Institute] Komsomol group went for three days to Borovoye. On the same day, after lunch, I went out of the cafeteria with a friend. On the street, there was Vitaly with a friend. It turns out that he already saw me at the institute. He whispered to his friend: if this girl turns around, she will be my wife. I turned around. He immediately ran to me, invited me to the cinema.
Talik asked if I loved Saint-Saens. I am a great fan of ballet, I love his music very much. Vitaly played the violin, started as a small child, graduated from the music school. And all his life he loved, understood, felt classical music in the depths of his soul, especially the violin.
The love of music, literature, and art has always helped us in our work. Very much so! Because the more a person knows, the more skills and hobbies he has, the deeper he is, the more interesting he is. And he attracts other people more. And if an illegal has nothing to attract the people he needs or those he has an interest in, then he will not be able to perform his difficult, but necessary service for our Motherland.
Among the many photographs at home, there are two black and white ones: the Komsomol secretary of a big institute Vitaly Netyksa and the secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee, Yevgeny Tyazhelnikov, congratulate the first-year students and the second is a meeting between the Lenin scholarship recipients and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.
Vitaly has always been in the spotlight. Smart, good-looking, attentive, competent – everybody was strongly attracted to him! All my girlfriends were a little in love with him. Charm, noble bearing, dignity, a sense of measure are in our profession especially necessary.
At my husband’s funeral, Sergey Nikolaevich Lebedev (he headed the Foreign Intelligence Service for a long time) said: “His eyes were astounding — smart, kind, bright. I haven’t seen any like that.”
But back to the time of our first acquaintance. There was no school on the morning of the next day. Talik and I went skiing. He immediately took our first photograph. That photo was our favorite. "How young we were, how sincerely we loved each other, how we believed in ourselves." And that was our favorite song by Alexandra Pakhmutova. Vitaly was a great photographer. This also helped him a lot in life and work.
On this day, March 1, 1968, Talik proposed to me. Of course, I laughed, said that we needed to get to know each other better. And we got married a year later: we submitted the application on March 5 and became husband and wife on May 23, 1969.
Talik was already in his final year [at the university], I had two more years of study. The secretary of the Komsomol committee, the Lenin scholarship recipient, selected to go to the graduate school, and yet not a bit of careerism in him! If someone was expelled [from the university], and if it was unfair, he pleaded on their behalf, protected them. But he also knew how to recognize the cheats and liars who pretended to be what they were not. Talik was skilled in distinguishing the decent and the dishonest, the hard-workers and the careerists, [and] for this he was greatly respected.
He lived with his aunt on his mother’s side in the center of Moscow on the Sadovnicheskaya embankment and the Pyatnitskaya street in a small old apartment. Aunt’s husband was Rimsky-Korsakov’s nephew, and Baba Nina (as we all called her) bore this last name. She was a typical Moscow intellectual, very kind, likeable and noble. She was very fond of Vitalik. She had a lot of friends, got us tickets for the most unique concerts of symphonic music, for ballets in the Bolshoi and for “Don Quixote” on December 31 in the Palace of Congresses. That was a wonderful treat!
We invited friends to the aunt’s apartment, listened to classical music records, read poetry, and argued on political issues. Our friends loved the hostess and easily found a common language with her. On holidays, we went to watch the salute on the Stone Bridge, very close by.
I remember how on the 25th anniversary of the Victory Day [1970] we went to the Manezhnaya Square. It was completely empty, and a military band played there. We were dancing a waltz on this huge square to the sounds of our favorite WWII song. It was solemn, magical and unforgettable! And now 50 years have passed ...
A week before the wedding, Vitaly went to accompany me from my aunt to the hostel where I lived. This place on the Sadovnicheskaya embankment was called Balchug, and by the courtyard exit, there was a hotel with an arch at the entrance. Vitaly stopped me under the arch. He had a serious look on his face: "Wait. I want to tell you something. I will not hide it, you must know and make a decision." I was scared: "What happened? What's the matter?" Talik said immediately: "This is very serious, I made a decision - I’ll go to work in illegal intelligence if they consider me fit. Think and give me an answer if you want to go with me." I agreed without hesitation, said that I was happy for him and loved him even more. And that I would like to work with him.
It was unexpected for me. Nobody ever contacted me about it. It was a blast! How to convey that conversation. There are moments in life that are impossible to forget. They stand before your eyes and, probably, will remain such until the last breath. If it is true that when a person dies, the most important thing passes before his eyes - this is exactly that moment. A week before the wedding, we were standing under the arch, and the future husband, the dearest man, said to me: "My decision will not change. You must decide."
My decision was logical and instantaneous. Sure! Without any doubts! Vitaly grew in my eyes to an extraordinary, ever greater height. An intelligent, honest, noble, courageous, true patriot, deeply loving his homeland and ready to serve it, not thinking about his personal happiness, prosperity, and career.
For me that was very important. My parents went through the entire war. They met at the front. In Vienna, on Victory Day, my dad proposed to my mother, and, returning to their homeland, they got married. Mom was 15 years old when she volunteered, claiming that she was three years older, went to the front and fought the whole war. In my family, the love for the motherland has always been in the first place. And it was the same with Vitaly’s family. Vitaly joined the party not because it was necessary [to get promoted], no. It was at the call of his heart, for real. During the war they said: "Communists, go first!" And Vitaly went first.
We got married. We lived for a year at Baba Nina’s apartment, then in a hostel.
Looking ahead, I will say that we lived together for 43 years. We were a loving husband and wife, happy parents, very close friends, comrades and associates, faithful like-minded people and deeply understanding each other. We were very lucky.
When I was in the 5th year [at the university], they called me and made an offer to work in intelligence. Of course, I agreed.
After I graduated from the institute, and Vitaly from the graduate school, we began to prepare for illegal work.
There was a lot of study, real, intense. You are given certain opportunities, but a person has a lot to do himself. [One has to express] more and more initiative, desire, aspiration at all stages.
Our profession is not easy. You need to know a lot and love it. To really love this complex, very necessary profession - to defend the homeland. And then there will be deep knowledge, interesting connections, important meetings and great results.
For illegal officers, language is the most important basis. Language learning is not easy. Now there are a lot of opportunities and resources, we, unfortunately, had fewer of them, but there was a great desire and even greater motivation. We wanted to get down to business sooner, but this required to know the language perfectly. There were no contemporary dictionaries, nor the Internet, when you click on the button, and the right word or the right information pops up immediately. We searched and searched, made mistakes and searched again. But everything we learned stayed with us forever. I still write in that language, not making any mistakes.
I remember I was already in my last year [at the university] when two films in that language were given to me. I could not watch them - the video was not provided, I could only hear the scenes. I learned them by heart. After that, when I got the chance to watch these films, I was so happy to note so many familiar, almost native phrases and expressions! There were, of course, difficulties. But there is no silver lining. The main thing was a great desire.
And we were lucky - we met Patria (Africa de Las Eras - ND).
Our supervisor was a terrific person, a great friend of ours. We named our son in honor of him Yevgeny. One day he came and said: "Tomorrow you will go to the real Spanish woman."
We were great friends with Patria. We loved her, and love was mutual. Patria has given us a lot. We learned by heart the excerpts from the poems of the great Nicaraguan Ruben Dario, a remarkable symbolist poet and prominent political figure. Under Patria’s guidance, we devoted time to history, geography, literature and poetry, painting and music.
I knew a lot about the language, because for an illegal officer it is the basis of everything, it requires a lot of constant work. Spanish is deeply emotional. Perhaps the seventeenth century — the golden age of Spanish literature — made it so.
Italian is also emotional, but it is somewhat a language of gestures, more visual, and therefore that is the country of painters. And Spanish painting has more philosophy than Italian masters. It is no coincidence that in Spain there are many playwrights, and in drama, emotions are internal. And all this is reflected in the language. They say Spanish is easy and I always laugh. It may be easy to understand the basics, having caught two or three familiar words, but in order to speak it as a native ... This is a very difficult language!
And it must be loved. But language does not exist in vacuum. You cannot learn a language just like that. One must know and love both the culture and the history. Spanish has the richest history, because it involves not only Spain, but also Latin America.
The culture opens up many different doors. It all started in Moscow. In the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, I listened to the lectures of the young Antonova, went to two-year courses and to separate lectures on different cultures. The M.A.I. is located opposite the Stroganov School, and Vitaly made a deal with their secretary of the Komsomol committee to allow me to attend lectures on the history of art. All this greatly helped me in my future work, and I helped Vitaly.
The Latin American culture - how amazing it is! I'm not talking only about the ancient Inca culture, Maya. And Mexican, and South American ... Deep philosophy, incredible architecture! I was really lucky. In Mexico, I met the great Tamayo, the last in the galaxy of famous Mexican muralists and artists. He was the director of a unique anthropological museum. I managed to work there, I learned a great deal, I gained material expertise that served us well in our future work.
Or Peru with its mountains, high Andes. The country of legends and myths, mysticism and reality, ancient culture and contemporary reality.
What about Nicaragua? It turned out that we had to study with a group of Nicaraguans, and afterwards, when we were celebrating our graduation and sitting at the table, I got up and instead of a toast read an excerpt from Ruben Dario's poem. With what gratitude this was received!
These are no trifles. We talked about music. Many countries have the Wagnerian societies. Concerts are arranged, and they always invite the elite. But to get to be invited, you need to know a lot and be motivated to learn more. And constantly grow. There is one hard-to-translate Spanish proverb: "The bottom line is that everyone must earn the right to their place in society." You grow – you reach another, higher level, and you need to grow further. Vitaly grew all the time, studied a lot, worked hard. He constantly devoted time to working with languages. He spoke so many. And they needed to be practiced. He was a very talented person, and everything that he undertook, he performed at the highest level.
Vitaly achieved great results also because for him such concepts as carelessness, deceit, cheating, betrayal did not exist.
My daughter once said to me: "Thank you for never deceiving us." Living as an illegal officer with a cover story and cheating are two completely different things. Unfortunately, people do not always understand the difference between a cover story and deception. The person who does our work should be completely honest. Starting illegal work, the intelligence officer accepts new characteristics of his life, integrates them so that they become harmonious with his personality: he really becomes a different person, without losing his essence. This is an incredibly difficult spiritual work that can only be done when you know that you fully believe in your goals. And this is a necessary part of our work, because only when we become the person that our documents testify to, we do not attract unnecessary attention and can successfully carry out the tasks of the Center.
Vitaly was always deeply trusted and held in high esteem, he enjoyed great respect there, and always confidently felt his own among strangers.
We went on vacation extremely rarely, it was difficult, and we did not want to take any unnecessary risks. The three of us came to Moscow together only once: me, my husband and a three-year-old daughter. Then she grew up and spoke a different language, and it was no longer possible to come. The son came to Moscow only when we returned, he was 14 years old. My husband and I came twice but separately. The first time we returned "home" (abroad - ed.) and climbed the stairs at the airport, I looked at Vitaly and saw how, in a few seconds, while we were climbing, he became a different person. Awesome! Even I, who knew his every cell, admired him. He was an illegal intelligence officer with a capital letter.
From the beginning, we worked together. But each of us had his own work. We talked and discussed a lot, but there were also things that I did not know about. Once we received a telegram [and] he left for a few days. He returned tired, lost weight. I did not ask any questions. From the next telegram I learned that Vitaly was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
Messages came from the Center, sometimes I received them, sometimes my husband. He was incredibly busy. Sometimes he slept for four hours. He had a huge load. Anytime I could help, I did.
Lenochka was born there, then Zhenya. Without them, we as a married couple would have looked strange. Young, healthy and without children. During childbirth, I did not scream out in my native language. The Spanish language entered my subcortex so much that it became native for me.
In all, we have spent 22 years abroad. We returned, and only at home found out about our military ranks: my husband was a colonel, I was a lieutenant colonel. But Talik continued to work, most of the time he was abroad. Which Countries? All sorts. Various. Mostly distant.
Vitaly was always very demanding on himself and on those with whom he worked. He did not tolerate any dishonesty, laxity. He believed that in our work everything should be transparent, without the slightest sloppiness. He was a 100 percent flawless, perfect type.
In 2000, an anniversary badge was issued for our professional holiday. One day they called us to the headquarters, and I said: "Talik, they’ll give it to us now." No, it turned out that I was awarded the rank of colonel. A little more time passed, they called us again, and I again said: "Now for sure - they will hand over the badges." We arrived: he was awarded the rank of general. We did not expect this at all.
With the title of Hero of Russia, it was also interesting. Vitaly went out with our son in the morning. He came home and got a call: "The president wants to see you." On that day, Vladimir Putin met with Hugo Chavez, so he decided that they would ask him questions about Venezuela and prepared accordingly.
However, on the same day, we also celebrated our service’s anniversary. One of the intelligence chiefs came up to me and said: "Tamara, congratulations. Vitaly was awarded the title of Hero of Russia." And we did not know it and did not expect it, but around us there were people who knew, but kept it a secret.
Although Vitaly did so many great things in his work, it never occurred to him to be arrogant or vain. He never pinned the star of Hero of Russia on his suit due to secrecy issues. He was incredibly modest and even shy in relation to his successes; it always seemed to him that he had done too little, that he should do more.
His relatives learned that their brother, their uncle was the general of the SVR and Hero of Russia only at the day of his funeral.
When our job abroad ended, it was very difficult for us to return to the Russian language. Very difficult! But time passed, and our native Russian replaced all other languages. Well, naturally, except for Spanish. When we finally settled at home, in Moscow, we, of course, spoke Spanish: our daughter Lenochka and son Zhenya did not know Russian at all. And then, little by little, we began to communicate in Russian. To Zhenya, the language came easier. He went to school, there were, of course, some difficulties. Now he is a pilot of civil airlines, he speaks Russian without a foreign accent. Lena’s case was more complicated. But even with her accent, she became a TV presenter. How many interesting interviews [she conducted]!
We will not get into this issue now, but the children of illegal immigrants are an important and difficult question.
Lena and Zhenya were very fond of their father, they admired him and were proud of him. He was for them not only a kind, intelligent, loving father, but also a faithful, trusted friend, who always understood and assisted them in everything.
Vitaly was very fond of young people, he always tried to understand them, to help, to advise. He never made himself important or put himself higher, and the young guys felt this and were drawn to him.
Vitaly had big plans for the future, he wanted to do so much more! He dreamed of working with future illegal officers and passing on his huge, invaluable experience. He understood that the times have changed, that now the young people are different, and the methods are different. But he always believed that, despite the differences in upbringing and education, the most important thing is motivation.
Today, the motivation of our people should be extremely high. Everywhere there is raised such a howl against our country. Even now, in such harsh conditions of a pandemic, when all countries must unite, the opponents are doing their utmost to defame and humiliate Russia. This is a bullying and a bacchanalia. It seems to me that now the real Russian youth should strive to stand in line, to rush to sign up for intelligence jobs, to obtain valuable secret information, to extinguish all these miserable onslaughts, to raise the prestige of our country, and make it great and powerful.
And that one who is lucky enough to become a real intelligence officer should, with pride and honor, holding his head up high, carry out this high calling. The way it was carried out by our Vitaly.
