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. My field is intelligence, I said. I don t see any reason for trans-ferring me to the domestic side. Come on, a first deputy chief in Leningrad will cover every-thing intelligence and counterintelligence, said Lezhepyokov. Every line will be under your command.We re not taking you awayfrom intelligence permanently.But it would do you good to get someexperience on the domestic front.You can keep your Moscow apart-ment and you will have an excellent position in Leningrad.Besides,your salary will be fifteen rubles higher. Who wants to be transferred to Leningrad for a mere fifteen rubles?I said. Frankly, I guess I ve been getting a little fed up with intelligencework.I guess I m willing to be transferred.But why not Moscow?I looked angrily at Kryuchkov, for I felt he had betrayed me.His eyes were fixed on the floor.Finally, in a reference to my mildcriticism, he said, Don t spit into the well.You might want to drinkfrom it later. Can I have a day or two to think it over? I asked Lezhepyokov. Of course, talk to your wife, no problem, he responded.On the way out, Kryuchkov put his arm around me and said in afriendly manner, Don t worry, Oleg.Everything will be all right.0465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 327COLLI SI ON 327Everything will be settled.You just have to agree for now.Take it easy.It s all right.Kryuchkov s kind words and gestures did not put me at ease.As I headed home that night, I felt crushed.I believed, and nu-merous colleagues agreed, that I was next in line to become chief ofintelligence.And now I was being posted to a domestic KGB office tobecome someone s deputy.I would be harassing my compatriots in-stead of going up against the CIA.I called several friends, and theyput a positive spin on the development.After all, they said, theLeningrad KGB chief was due to retire soon.I would almost surelyreplace him, and then I would have a seat on the KGB Collegium,since the Leningrad director was guaranteed a place on the agency sruling body. Come on, Oleg, one friend said. You ll get domestic experience.You ll be a member of the Collegium and then you ll come back aschairman of the KGB.Sometimes the ability for self-delusion knows no bounds, espe-cially when someone s career is at stake.I began to think that per-haps it wasn t such a bad thing.But all night I was wracked bydoubts, turning over and over in my mind what had just happened.Was it all because of Cook? Was it my run-in with deputy chairmanTsinyov over the UNESCO ambassador? Was it my tense relationswith Kryuchkov?I didn t sleep at all that night, and when I walked into Kryuchkov soffice the following morning, the intelligence chief greeted me with awry smile. Well, how did you sleep? I didn t sleep at all, I responded. I knew you wouldn t, he said. This is very difficult to swallow.It seemed to me he could barely contain his glee, and I felt thateven if he hadn t engineered my transfer outright, he had done noth-ing to stop it. I still don t understand what happened, I said.0465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 328328 SPYMASTER Oleg, Kryuchkov replied, you need some counterintelligence ex-perience inside the country.It will help you later. But I m forty-six now, I said. I m not that young. You still need it, Kryuchkov insisted. This move will help yourcareer. It s up to Andropov, I answered. If he decides I should go, I llhave to obey him.I will have no choice. Take it easy, said Kryuchkov. I promise you that in two or threeyears you ll be back in intelligence.You need this experience for yourprofessional growth.He didn t mean a word he said, but at the time I didn t want to be-lieve it.Andropov approved my transfer, and for the remainder of Novem-ber and December I worked with my successor on a smooth transi-tion.I gradually came to accept my fate, and even rationalized thatperhaps I was being given a domestic assignment to round out my ré-sumé and that I would one day return to intelligence.On January 2, 1980, I was scheduled to take the night train thefamous Red Arrow from Moscow to Leningrad.Andropov had in-vited me to say farewell to him that afternoon in his office inLubyanka.I arrived a few minutes early and waited in his antecham-ber.It was a typical winter evening in Moscow.By four o clock itwas already dark, the city enveloped in a cold gloom.Outside, onDzerzhinsky Square, comrades wearing dark coats and black feltboots shuffled in and out of the crowded, steamy stores.Waiting forAndropov on the third floor of Lubyanka, I listened to the distantwhoosh of cars and buses on the slush-covered square.I felt depressedand adrift, my mood perfectly matching the melancholy scene on thestreets below.I entered Andropov s office promptly at four.It looked as it alwaysdid the mahogany paneling, the oblong table covered in green felt,the bank of telephones linking the chairman to the Soviet leadership,the portraits of Lenin and Dzerzhinsky.0465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 329COLLI SI ON 329The chairman stood up, offered me a seat and a smile, and said, Well, you ve suffered enough.Your troubles are over now. What do you mean? I replied. I didn t suffer.I was happy withmy job. Oh, I didn t mean your job, he replied. I meant this whole Cookaffair.What on earth possessed you to defend a spy? What could youpossibly hope to gain by it?I was taken aback.So it was, after all, the Cook affair that was be-hind my transfer, not some desire of Andropov s to round out myrésumé. The man was unjustly convicted, I said. I ask you, what sort of spyis it that is so short of cash that he has to resort to dealing with blackmarketeers? The CIA would have taken care of him so that he neverwould have had to risk his neck for peanuts.I read all the files in thecase and it was clearly a frame-up by Alidin and his investigators. All right, all right, said Andropov. Let s not dredge all this upagain.Don t remind me of all this.You have stirred up too much dusthere at headquarters.I just want you to go away until things settledown.You go to Leningrad, and when things calm down, you ll beback.I promise you.It will take a year or so.No longer than that.You ll be back soon.His manner was so friendly, so soothing, that I believed him.Andindeed, one of Andropov s aides later told me that the chairman wasone of my greatest fans, but that the pressure from Alidin, Tsinyov,and others to remove me from the capital had been so great that hecouldn t resist. Why did you have to cross this man Alidin? Andropov asked. I had to do it, I replied. It was my case. Okay, okay, he said. Let s close the matter.I promise you ll beback soon.You won t lose Moscow.By the way, do you know theLeningrad branch chief, Nozyrev? I only dealt with him once when he helped my mother-in-law getinto a hospital, I replied.0465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 330330 SPYMASTER Mother-in-law, eh? Andropov said, grinning. He s a prickly cus-tomer.You won t find him too easy at first.He s a difficult man. I have a knack for dealing with difficult people, I said. Don t push him around, cautioned Andropov. Keep a low pro-file.Don t forget he s from the old school.But don t worry; everythingwill work out in the end.At that point, our conversation was interrupted when a telephonerang on his desk
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