Gainetdin Akhmerov “Selected Works. Iskhak Akhmerov warned Roosevelt about Pearl Harbor, and Stalin about the American nuclear bomb. Two Tatars served

, Orenburg Governorate, Russian Empire

USSR USSR

Ishak Abdulovich Akhmerov(tat. İsxaq Ğabdulla uğlı Əxmərov, Ishak Gabdulla uly Әkhmәrov, April 7, 1901 - July 18, 1976) - Soviet intelligence officer, colonel, head of the Soviet station in the USA in -.

Biography

On April 16, 2015, a monument to Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov was unveiled in Chelyabinsk, on Alom Pole.

On December 14, 2015, Maxim Bodyagin’s book “Akhmerov. History of the feat"

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Notes

Literature

• Antonov V. S., Karpov V. N. Secret informants of the Kremlin. Illegals. - M.: OLMA-PRESS Education, 2002. - 352 p. - (Dossier). - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-94849-019-Х.
• Encyclopedia of Russian Secret Services / Compiled by A.I. Kolpakidi. - M.: AST, Astrel, Transitbook, 2004. - P. 425-426. - 800 s. - ISBN 5-17018975-3.

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Excerpt characterizing Akhmerov, Ishak Abdulovich

For Prince Andrei, seven days have passed since he woke up at the dressing station of the Borodino field. All this time he was in almost constant unconsciousness. The fever and inflammation of the intestines, which were damaged, in the opinion of the doctor traveling with the wounded man, should have carried him away. But on the seventh day he happily ate a slice of bread with tea, and the doctor noticed that the general fever had decreased. Prince Andrei regained consciousness in the morning. The first night after leaving Moscow it was quite warm, and Prince Andrei was left to spend the night in a carriage; but in Mytishchi the wounded man himself demanded to be carried out and to be given tea. The pain caused to him by being carried into the hut made Prince Andrei moan loudly and lose consciousness again. When they laid him on a camp bed, he lay for a long time with his eyes closed without moving. Then he opened them and quietly whispered: “What should I have for tea?” This memory for the small details of life amazed the doctor. He felt the pulse and, to his surprise and displeasure, noticed that the pulse was better. To his displeasure, the doctor noticed this because, from his experience, he was convinced that Prince Andrei could not live and that if he did not die now, he would only die with great suffering some time later. With Prince Andrei they were carrying the major of his regiment, Timokhin, who had joined them in Moscow with a red nose and was wounded in the leg in the same Battle of Borodino. With them rode a doctor, the prince's valet, his coachman and two orderlies.

A glorious son of the Tatar people, one of the outstanding representatives of Soviet illegal intelligence, Ishak Abdulovich Akhmerov (1901-1976) is one of the top cohort of world-class intelligence service aces. His name was kept silent in our country for decades even after his death. We have received more detailed information about him in recent years, presented, of course, by the intelligence officers themselves and, therefore, passed through the necessary “sieve.” And if you look on the Internet in English and look through numerous publications in the United States on personalities and problems of modern intelligence, you can find hundreds of references to Akhmerov. You should search in various variants: “Jung”, “Albert”, Bill Greinke, Michael Green, Michael Adamel, “Mayor”, etc. And any reader will involuntarily come to the conclusion that Iskhak Akhmerov was one of the outstanding intelligence officers of the Second World War.

Ten years in the United States on the eve and during the war (1935-1945) and continuous activity day and night as the head of an extensive network of illegal intelligence is a lot even by the standards of the intelligence service. It is enough to cancel that, according to official information from the SVR, in the last two years alone, in 1943-1945, 2,500 films with information materials on more than 75 thousand typewritten sheets were received from the residency of Iskhak Abdulovich! For this titanic work in illegal conditions, I. A. Akhmerov and his wife were awarded state awards: he - the Order of the Badge of Honor and the Red Banner, Helen ("Tanya") - the Order of the Red Star. After the end of the war, Ishak Abdulovich was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner for his work on the Manhattan Project.

Residency sources were located at many U.S. Government installations. And secrets especially protected by the Americans regularly came to Akhmerov and were then immediately sent to Moscow. From the materials published by foreign intelligence officers it is clear that even before the start of the Tehran Conference of the Great Powers, the Soviet delegation received timely information about the plans and intentions of the Americans and the steps they were planning.

A small highly qualified international group operating in various parts of the planet: Richard Sorge in Tokyo, Kim Philby in London, Yakov Reizman, Iskhak Akhmerov and Rudolf Abel in the largest centers of the USA, for a long time provided the Soviet leadership with valuable military-political information, obtained from primary sources, so to speak, first-hand. This contributed to the adoption of the right government decisions in the most difficult years of the country’s development. Under the weight of various circumstances, over time, they all “lit up”: R. Sorge and Y. Reisman died, R. Abel ended up in prison, K. Philby was forced to leave England forever. All except I. Akhmerov, who returned safely with his American wife to Moscow after successfully completing the assigned tasks. And for another thirty years until the end of his life he continued to serve his favorite cause and the interests of the state.

Hard childhood

Ishak Abdulovich Akhmerov was born on April 7, 1901 in the city of Troitsk, Orenburg province, into a poor Tatar family. He knew his father, who died suddenly when Ishak was only a few months old, only from his mother’s stories. The mother and her infant child were forced to move to her father in one of the district villages of the Kazan province. Grandfather Ishak had a large family; they themselves barely survived on bread and tea. His grandfather, a furrier, taught the smart boy to his craft, which later came in handy in his intelligence work. But more on that later.

From an early age Ishak knew the need. The grandfather died when the boy was only twelve years old. He went to work as a farm laborer for local farmers, and over the next five years mastered half a dozen professions: he was an errand boy in a haberdashery store, he worked as a grinder and an apprentice in a printing house, as an electrician’s assistant and as a baker. After the February Revolution, he “made it into the people” - he began working as a clerk in a manufacturing store, which made his mother very proud. But after the Civil War, the store closed due to lack of goods.

Thirst for knowledge

Ishak really wanted to study and acquire a useful specialty. The Soviet government helped him: with a permit from the Kazan Council, he was sent to Moscow for accounting courses, after which the seventeen-year-old young man entered the People's Commissariat of Education of Tatarstan. In 1919, he was accepted into the party, and a year later the young active worker was elected deputy of the Kazan City Council. The irrepressible Ishak felt a lack of knowledge and expressed a desire to obtain a higher education. In 1921, the Kazan residents again sent him to study in Moscow - at the University of the Peoples of the East, where he began to study Turkish. A year later, Ishak Akhmerov was transferred to the Faculty of International Relations of Moscow State University (the forerunner of MGIMO). Here, along with such general educational disciplines as the history of international relations, international public and private law, in addition to Turkish, he also studied French, which was then considered in Turkey the language of the local elite. A little later, he began studying English, which ten years later would become his second native language for many years.

The path to the top

In Moscow, his ability to master languages ​​and his enormous talent for communication quickly emerged - extremely important traits for a future illegal intelligence officer. But for now it was necessary to quickly master two more important specialties - teacher and diplomat. After graduating from Moscow State University in 1923-1924, he worked as deputy director of the Moscow Pedagogical College. Later, his teaching skills were very useful to him, especially in recruiting activities.

In 1925, Ishak Akhmerov was transferred to the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and, after a short internship, was sent to the city of Termez, to the USSR Embassy in the Bukhara Republic. After the reunification of this republic with Uzbekistan, I. Akhmerov, as an expert in the Turkish language, was appointed secretary of the Consulate General of the USSR in Istanbul. In 1928-1929, Ishak Akhmerov served as Consul General of the USSR in Istanbul. Essentially, in three years he went from trainee to consul general. Under normal circumstances, current Russian diplomats travel this path in about 25-30 years!

It is safe to assume that the beginning of I. Akhmerov’s cooperation with foreign intelligence dates back to this period. He established extensive contacts with influential representatives of the Turkish elite, made useful contacts with representatives of a foreign colony, gained experience communicating with foreigners, became acquainted with the basics of recruiting work, and improved his knowledge of Turkish, French and English.

Scout-orientalist

After returning from Turkey to Moscow, I. Akhmerov worked for several months at the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs: he had to “check in” and show that he really was a representative of the diplomatic department. At the beginning of 1930, Akhmerov enlisted in the counterintelligence unit of the OGPU as an operative and was sent to Bukhara, where for a year he actively participated in the fight against the Basmachi.

After returning from a business trip, he was recruited to work at the OGPU INO and sent to study at the Institute of Red Professors, since in those days there was no special intelligence school. At the Faculty of World Economy and World Economy, I. Akhmerov improves the knowledge necessary to work in intelligence, and at the same time studies English. This is followed by a short internship in the foreign department of the OGPU. In January 1933, the young intelligence officer was invited to a conversation with the intelligence chief A. Artuzov. He announced the management’s decision to send I. Akhmerov to work in China through illegal intelligence.

Ishak Abdulovich had to go to Beijing as a Turkish student of oriental studies, legalize himself in the country and begin acquiring sources that could inform foreign intelligence about the situation in the country and the plans of the Whites and Japanese regarding the USSR. It was a bold and at the same time very risky decision: the “transformation” of the former Soviet consul in Istanbul into a Turkish student in Beijing - in a den of international espionage!

To Beijing, “Jung” (operational pseudonym of I. Akhmerov) had to travel through Europe, where the “Turkish citizen” had to obtain a Chinese visa and travel by steamer from Rome to one of the Chinese ports. When he contacted a travel agency in Rome to organize a trip to China, they explained to him that most Europeans go to China through the USSR because it is faster, cheaper, and most importantly, safer. At the Chinese embassy he easily obtained an entry visa, but he was warned that to travel to Beijing he must also obtain a Soviet transit visa. This wasn't too difficult either. But after leaving the Soviet embassy, ​​the Italian carabinieri took him to the police for questioning. They were interested in why he visited the Consulate. After a sensible explanation, the Turkish citizen was released.

A small episode was also unsafe when I. Akhmerov crossed the Russian-Chinese border in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. The Japanese, who knew Russian, interrogated the “Turkish citizen” through a Tatar translator about the purposes of his visit to China. He translated from Turkish into Russian and back. At some point, the Tatar translator had a suspicion: was it really a Turk standing in front of him, and not a Tatar with knowledge of the Turkish language? Tracing the entire translation process, Ishak Abdulova quickly realized that at all costs he must “convince” the doubting Tatar that they were facing a 100% citizen of the Turkish Republic. What a plot for an adventure novel or a documentary! And he succeeded. Scout "Jung" arrived in Beijing safely and entered the most prestigious American university, where mainly foreign students and representatives of the then Chinese elite studied. He quickly established trusting contacts with the necessary media. From an English student who maintained contacts with the British Embassy, ​​he received information about Japan's plans in China, and a Swedish student supplied Akhmerov with interesting information about Japanese activities in Manchuria. This information received a positive assessment at the Center. A project was already brewing there to transfer “Jung” from East to West.

Iskhak Akhmerov - resident of the USA

In 1934, the intelligence leadership decided to send I. Akhmerov to work illegally in the United States. After some preparation in Moscow, “Jung” left for Europe in 1935. After a few days in Geneva, he received an American visa and soon departed Cherbourg for New York on the French high-speed liner Normandy. Immediately after arriving in New York, he began studying at Columbia University -

for the purpose of smooth legalization and to improve knowledge of the English language. After some time, he acquired documents as a US citizen. From now on, he is one hundred percent American in all respects: in culture and mentality, in habits and knowledge of the language.

During the first year of his stay in the USA, I. Akhmerov restored contact with a number of previously “mothballed” agents. But it turned out that a considerable part of them had already lost their reconnaissance capabilities. He had to create and acquire new sources of information, which he did brilliantly. By the beginning of 1936, six American employees, including two women, were already actively working in the illegal Jung station.

In 1938-1939, the illegal Soviet residency in the United States, headed by Ishak Abdulovich, had about two dozen sources in the US military and diplomatic departments, as well as in other important government agencies. According to information recently published in our press, I. Akhmerov received military-political information valuable for our country from the “Nord” agent he recruited, who worked in the War Ministry and had access to reports of US military attaches abroad, as well as to decisions taken on these reports to government decisions. “Jung’s” extremely valuable source was Agent Kord, who held a senior position in the US State Department. He was recruited on an ideological and political basis. Being an anti-fascist by conviction, he believed that only the USSR could stop Hitler’s aggression in Europe, so he consciously went to deepen cooperation with Soviet intelligence.

Secret information coming from Kord, i.e., from the State Department, was highly valued at the Center and was regularly reported to the top Soviet leadership. In the pre-war years, it allowed the Kremlin to be aware of the US position on the most pressing international issues. Among the information were copies of political reports of US ambassadors in Berlin and London, Paris and Rome, as well as in other European capitals.

Most of the sources knew that they were working for the Soviet Union and deliberately provided us with assistance, considering this their contribution to the joint struggle against the common enemy - fascism. Many of them worked for free.

Soon after arriving in the United States, I. Akhmerov recruited American Helen Lowry (operational pseudonym “Tanya”), the niece of the then General Secretary of the US Communist Party, Earl Browder, to cooperate as the owner of a safe house. Helen turned out to be not only an excellent liaison and the owner of several safe houses, but also took an active part in efforts to obtain reliable American documents for newly arriving employees of the illegal station of “Jung.” Moreover, she soon smoothly joined in the “extraction” of interesting information first-hand, using her charm and personal connections among the White House administration staff.

The elegant and intelligent Tatar "Jung", who often met with Helen, fell in love with his American assistant. The young and beautiful girl reciprocated his feelings, and they decided to get married.

It must be said that Helen occupied a special place among I. Akhmerov’s closest assistants and provided enormous assistance in all the work of the Soviet station. She became a faithful wife and an indispensable assistant in both American and Moscow life of Akhmerov. And here he made an absolutely unmistakable choice: out of love and out of necessity! But a risky test had to be passed. Stalin's repressions affected diplomats and intelligence officers. On the instructions of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Beria, in 1939 the Center recalled almost all legal and illegal residents from abroad, including Akhmerov. Ishak Abdulovich received the instructions about his recall with a heavy heart and bewilderment. How to give up everything when the results of his work are impeccable and the information he obtains is extremely necessary for our state, especially on the eve of the Second World War?

In September 1939, a report from illegal intelligence officer “Jung” from Washington landed on Lavrentiy Beria’s desk. In response to the order of the all-powerful People's Commissar of the NKVD to mothball the residency he headed and leave for the Center, Colonel Akhmerov asked for permission to marry “Tanya” and return to Moscow with her. The case, it must be said, is extraordinary in the world practice of intelligence services, especially the Soviet one at that time. Beria was furious. He called the head of foreign intelligence, General Fitin, and scolded him, saying that “American spies had infiltrated the illegal residency of the NKVD in the United States.”

According to the memoirs of General Pavel Fitin, he had to spend a lot of effort and energy to dissuade the People's Commissar. The certificate he prepared for Beria gave a high assessment of the information coming from “Jung”. It emphasized that Helen (“Tanya”) is the niece of the leader of the American communists, whom Stalin himself highly values. Obviously, it was this argument that played a decisive role in the fact that Akhmerov survived. Beria was afraid of angering the leader and gave the go-ahead for the marriage.

True, in the future Beria still took revenge on “Jung”. When at the beginning of 1940, the head of the illegal residency in the United States, I. Akhmerov, arrived with his wife at the Center, Beria ordered that “Jung” be demoted to the lowest rank - to an intern in the American foreign intelligence department, and his combat deputy Norman Borodin was generally dismissed from intelligence. Over the next two years, I. Akhmerov was carefully checked, which means that his rich operational capabilities remained unrealized until an urgent need for him arose immediately after the start of the war.

Return of the resident

In July 1941, it was decided to introduce the illegal residency mothballed by Jung in the United States and urgently send I. Akhmerov there again as the head of the illegal intelligence network. By this time, Helen (“Tanya”) had accepted Soviet citizenship and became a full-fledged employee of Soviet foreign intelligence. In September 1941, Ishak and Elena, illegal intelligence officers, departed for their place of work in the United States by a roundabout route through the East.

The route overseas lay through China and Hong Kong. From here they arrived by ship to the United States. For this trip, they were prepared with the appropriate documents. In the US, they switched to their trusty old passports.

Having experience of illegal work in the United States and being well aware of the operational situation in the country, Akhmerov immediately after his arrival began to carry out the Center’s assignment. For reliable cover, he created a commercial company for sewing and selling fur products. Here the furrier skills he received from his grandfather came in handy. Every day from morning until lunch he worked in the office, dealing with the financial and commercial affairs of the company. This made it possible to bring the company into the ranks of successful ones and seriously consolidate the position of the scout in the rank of a successful businessman. After lunch at home, he studied the press and materials on international issues, preparing for upcoming meetings with source agents. Two or three times a month he traveled from New York to Washington to meet with his most valuable sources, usually on Saturdays and Sundays. Elena also traveled to the American capital several times a month, fulfilling her husband’s communications assignment. At the same time, she managed to study at the university at the Faculty of Pedagogy. This was the strict daily routine of this courageous couple for five years. There was only five or six hours left for sleep, and not always.

The sources of the residency - Akhmerov's agents were located at many US government facilities, and secrets especially protected by the Americans regularly came to him and were then sent to Moscow. For example, on the eve of and during the Tehran Conference of Great Powers, the Soviet delegation received information in advance about the plans and intentions of the Americans, and this was the great merit of Ishak Abdulovich, who received information through his agents, as they say, first-hand.

Akhmerov had valuable sources in the State Department, the Overseas Economic Administration, the Office of the Department of War Industry, the FBI, the Department of Justice and other institutions. One of his agents obtained information on atomic issues (the Manhattan Project). Another of his agents, who worked in the Office of Strategic Services (foreign intelligence), transmitted documentary materials about the US military infrastructure and preparations for military operations. A large volume of classified materials also came from other sources.

All of the above allows us to assert that Colonel Ishak Abdulovich Akhmerov was one of the outstanding representatives of foreign intelligence. He played a big role in strengthening the defense capability of our state during the most difficult time for the country - during the Great Patriotic War, heading the illegal residency in the United States from 1941 to 1946.

Among the materials sent by Akhmerov were information about American assessments of the military-political potential of Germany, the military and political plans of the US government, draft documents prepared for important international meetings, data on negotiations between the German ambassador in the Vatican and representatives of President Roosevelt on the conditions for Germany’s exit from the war. All this information was of great importance and was reported directly to senior management.

After returning to Moscow in 1946, he was appointed deputy head of the KGB Department of Illegal Intelligence and worked fruitfully in this post for about ten years. He repeatedly went on short-term special missions to restore communications and provide assistance to illegal intelligence officers. Performed other responsible tasks as well. After retirement, due to his length of service, he lectured at educational institutions of the Soviet foreign intelligence service.

As noted in published sources, in one of his speeches, Ishak Abdulovich proudly stated that for about ten years he was an American and, together with his wife, conducted intelligence work, freely traveling around the country, had a trading company, an apartment in New York, and managed reputable sources -agents in Washington, who provided important political information during the war, covered the politics of not only the United States, but also our opponents - Germany and Japan. “When I received messages from the Center that this information was of great national importance, I realized that I was bringing great benefit to the Motherland, and I felt deep satisfaction.”

The final documents on the work of foreign intelligence during the Great Patriotic War say: “During the war years in the United States, the resident of the illegal residency, the prominent Soviet intelligence officer I. A. Akhmerov, acted especially successfully...” Rarely has any intelligence officer been able to earn such a high rating!

Another paragraph from the memoirs of people who knew him personally or his intelligence activities: “Ishak Abdulovich had great willpower, tenacity, and perseverance in achieving his goal. He tried not to cut himself any slack even in small things. He was a man of great soul, passionate about the work he served throughout his adult life. He was selflessly devoted to his Fatherland."

Iskhak Akhmerov died on July 18, 1976 at the age of 76. His wife and fighting friend Elena Ivanovna (Helen) died in 1981.

As more and more documentary materials appear about the life and work of Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov, his image directly suggests the creation of an action-packed feature film or novel, a documentary story. I think there are no problems with opening a stand at the State Museum of Tatarstan or naming one of the new streets of the fast-growing Tatarstan capital after him. All this does not require any expenses. There would only be a desire and understanding of the greatness of his personality. Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov, like no other of our contemporaries, in my opinion, deserves such signs of attention.

Yulduz Khaliullin

Master! Abel's mentor Ishak Akhmerov taught us

More than fifty years have passed since then, but I remember well how, at the beginning of the third year of my studies at the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR (1962), the head of the department came to the class assigned to our group for English classes and said that we will have a new teacher. “But this is a special teacher,” he said confidentially, “this is a former illegal intelligence officer. He worked in the United States of America for many years. An honored and very respected person in the KGB.” The boss asked us to show discipline, tact, sensitivity in communicating with him and under no circumstances ask about the work he did abroad.

We were young and, of course, we were romantics. Therefore, the intriguing news delighted us and gave rise to good expectations. The next day, the head of the faculty introduced us to Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov. His last name meant nothing to us. When the former intelligence officer appeared in the class, a cheerful thought flashed through my head: “Yes, this is a real American grandfather!” I have seen the same thing more than once in undubbed US films shown in large numbers in the High School cinema hall.

I was prompted to this thought by the appearance of Iskhak Abdulovich, which was conducive to a good conversation, thick eyebrows over smiling eyes, black hair with rich gray hair, a clean-shaven face dotted with wrinkles. A dark suit with subtle stripes, a colored shirt and tie looked somewhat old-fashioned and made the teacher stand out from the people around him. But the clothes were emphatically neat and fit. Slender, without being overweight, despite his advanced age (61 years), he calmly and confidently walked around the classroom. There was something inexplicable in his hairstyle, clothes and gestures, which I also noticed in the heroes of American films. Undoubtedly, his long stay in America affected his appearance and behavior.

And when Ishak Abdulovich began to speak English with a bewitching, pronounced American pronunciation, using vocabulary characteristic of the American version of English, it became absolutely clear that we, five students, were very lucky with our teacher! He was taciturn and unhurried. And this is good. This made his speech easier to understand and new foreign words and phrases remembered more reliably. I still remember the voice of the old intelligence officer, his calm, intelligent and convincing speech, full of idiomatic expressions and brilliant intonations.

My soul then rejoiced. After all, I was passionate about English. Even in high school, in order to study the language and obtain additional information, I listened to the Voice of America radio and listened to the polished and expressive speech of overseas announcers. I liked the special pronunciation of the Americans, in which, compared to the British, I heard more clarity, confidence and strength. And then a unique teacher came to our group, who spoke English the way the indigenous people of the United States spoke. Fantastic! Everything indicated that our teacher was a highly educated and very talented person.

Ishak Abdulovich taught classes with us for the whole academic year (1962–1963). The optimistic expectations for qualitative changes in studies associated with his arrival were fully justified. Every meeting with the teacher was priceless for the students. A conversation with him was perceived as a responsible conversation with a foreigner. And this gave us confidence that we were really learning a foreign language.

He had strong teaching skills. A true master of his craft! I would say Master! He deeply and creatively discussed with us topics related to the life and morals of American society, and talked about the relationships between children and parents in American families. He spoke with knowledge of the subject about American schools and some universities, about modern and classical American literature, unobtrusively introducing regional knowledge into our dreamy heads, as well as the necessary English words, phrases, and language features. By the way, regional studies, and in our case the study of the United States of America, was taught at the highest level at our faculty. A special, detailed course was taught by a very well-trained professional.

The relaxed, homely, warm environment in which we studied helped our successful studies. Our classroom was a tiny room in a former dormitory, in which even a stove and a sink with a cold water tap were preserved. Students from other language groups also studied in similar classes. Our little room contained only four desks and a blackboard on the wall. Therefore, Ishak Abdulovich was always nearby and available to every student during the lesson.

The teacher talked a lot about certain events that took place in America, linking them with the topic of the lesson. But he himself was almost never the hero of these stories. Usually Ishak Abdulovich said that this happened to his friend or a casual acquaintance, or even to a stranger. We understood that our acquaintance was none other than himself. But we, following the request of our superiors, never asked him direct questions about his stay in the USA. We didn’t even know in what years the teacher worked in America.

By the time Ishak Abdulovich began teaching classes with us, the Soviet illegal intelligence officer Rudolf Abel was released from an American prison in exchange for the US intelligence service spy pilot Powers on February 10, 1962. They immediately began to talk about him as a super intelligence officer. We had no idea then that while studying English with Akhmerov, we communicated daily with the same ace of our intelligence as Abel. Moreover, according to the article by S. Chervonnaya, A. Sudoplatov, V. Voronov “Rudolf Abel. Legend of the Cold War” (2003), our teacher Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov was Rudolf Abel’s mentor before he left for illegal work in the USA in November 1948 . The said article states:

“William Fisher (Abel’s real name and surname - S.B.) was lucky to have a mentor. A long-time illegal resident of foreign intelligence in the United States, Iskhak Akhmerov, introduced his colleague to all the intricacies of pre-war and war work in America and “brought him up to date” to the person he had mothballed in the fall of 1945 years of operational "background" for future work. Akhmerov transferred his experience and contacts into reliable hands. For foreign intelligence veteran Lieutenant General Vitaly Pavlov - state security captain in the 40s - William Fisher "was a real example of an illegal immigrant, of course, after Vasily Zarubin and Iskhak Akhmerov" (he had the opportunity to work with them in the American direction)."

In one of his interviews, V.G. Pavlov even called Akhmerov the number one intelligence officer of the 20th century, who most successfully operated during the Second World War in the United States.

We did not know this about our teacher, and Ishak Abdulovich did not give us the slightest reason to think of him as the super intelligence officer that he really was. He behaved very modestly and quietly. As far as I remember, he spoke about himself only on one topic - about his studies at the Institute of Red Professors. In turn, he asked questions about our student life and compared it with the situation among students in the 20s.

I, of course, focused my attention on the language itself and, first of all, on the pronunciation of English sounds, on stress in words, on intonation in sentences, on vocabulary. I tried to notice all the smallest features in the American version of Iskhak Abdulovich’s pronunciation and use them in my speech. It was felt that Ishak Abdulovich liked our desire to learn a foreign language for real.

I remember how he stubbornly insisted that I correctly, in American, pronounce the so-called fourth vowel sound, which is found, for example, in such English words as: a cat (cat), a man (man), bad (bad) , black (black). Ishak Abdulovich insistently asked when pronouncing this sound, difficult for Russians, to lower the jaw more energetically, slightly stretch the lips, and rest the tip of the tongue on the gums. He showed how it should be done. Ishak Abdulovich paid great attention to working on consonant sounds pronounced with aspiration. He taught us all the subtleties of American speech as lovingly and with excitement as parents teach their children to speak their first words. For Iskhak Abdulovich, we really were children, or rather, grandchildren. And he rejoiced at our successes very directly, like a child.

I was twenty years old then. My comrades are 23–25. I studied the language a lot on my own. He often stayed up until midnight studying textbooks and English books. Naturally, I excelled in Iskhak Abdulovich’s lessons, and he did not need to spend much time on me, although he tried to pay equal attention to everyone. It sometimes seemed to me that long and serious conversations with my older comrades were more attractive to him. In my heart I was even offended by him. I thought that he looked at me as a schoolboy with whom he could study someday later. Of course I was wrong. My grades in English have been the same throughout the years - A's.

The English lessons and life lessons that the illegal intelligence officer Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov taught us were not in vain. What he taught us sometimes decided the outcome of a case in practical work.

A few more words about our communication with Ishak Abdulovich. He never scolded us or raised his voice. But it was felt that he was worried when the students did not succeed for a long time. However, he always kept his emotions in check. However, there was a case when Ishak Abdulovich could not restrain himself. The 18th anniversary of Victory Day over Germany in the Great Patriotic War was celebrated. Students, teachers, and management gathered in the large hall of the Higher School. Veterans spoke. Our glorious intelligence officers Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov and Vasily Mikhailovich Zarubin were also invited to speak. General Zarubin spoke first. Then Ishak Abdulovich took the floor. Both spoke about the contribution of Soviet intelligence officers to the defeat of the German occupiers. They spoke passionately, but in general phrases. Ishak Abdulovich at that moment, unexpectedly for us, showed himself to be very emotional. He spoke unusually loudly and hastily. Then I started to get a little confused in my thoughts. Finally, he broke down and... sobbed. True, he quickly pulled himself together. These were not tears of joy on the occasion of Victory Day. It was something else... He wanted to tell the listeners about something important, but he couldn’t, he HAD NO RIGHT... But I’ll talk about this in the final chapter, dedicated to Akhmerov’s work abroad. The scouts were applauded for a long time.

At the end of the third year, we said goodbye to Ishak Abdulovich, went on vacation, and then left for an internship. When they returned, he no longer worked at the Higher School. We, the students, grateful to him for everything he taught us, were very saddened by his departure from school... Only gradually did I begin to learn about the scale of the truly heroic deeds that Ishak Abdulovich accomplished as an illegal intelligence officer...