Kim Philby: Soviet British spy. The Spy Who Chose the Cold The Story of Kim Philby

E. KISELEV: I greet everyone who is listening to the radio “Echo of Moscow” at this moment, this is really the “Our Everything” program, and I, its presenter, Evgeny Kiselev. We continue our project “History of the Fatherland in Persons”. We are going through the alphabet, from the letter “A” to the letter “I”, we have already reached the letter “F”. For each letter we usually have three characters, sometimes more, but at least three. And let me remind you that the rules of our project are such that we choose one hero by voting on the Echo of Moscow website on the Internet, one during a special live broadcast, and one hero is chosen by me myself as the author and presenter of this project. So, starting with the letter “F” we have three heroes. One, the famous Russian jewelry artist Carl Faberge, was chosen on the Echo of Moscow website, one, the religious philosopher Pavel Florensky - during live broadcast, and I chose the legendary intelligence officer Kim Philby. Our program today is about him. And as always, at the beginning of the program there is a portrait of the hero.

Harold Adrian Russell Philby was born on January 1, 1912 in India, in the family of a British colonial official, one of the largest English specialists on the East, Saint John Philby. Since childhood, the boy was given the nickname Kim in the family, in honor of the hero of Kipling’s novel, which over time became the main name. Philby Sr. was a famous man in his own way, but in narrow circles. In any scientific work in the history of Saudi Arabia one can easily find many references to his writings. The fact is that fate threw Sir Saint John Philby to Najd, as the territory in the center of the Arabian Peninsula was then called, after the unification of which with another neighboring Arab territory, Hejaz, in 1932 the kingdom of Saudi Arabia arose. Philby Sr. became an adviser to the founder of this state, King Abdulaziz al-Saud. It was Philby the Elder who advised the king to invite English geologists to the country to search for underground water sources. As a result, colossal oil deposits were discovered in 1938, making Saudi Arabia one of the richest countries in the world. Saint John Philby lived his entire life in the Arab East - he converted to Islam, married an Arab woman, and had children with her who received Arab names. There is a photograph of Kim Philby with his father and half-brothers. Philby Sr. died in 1957 in Beirut, when his son was already working there as a correspondent for the Observer newspaper. But many other events happened in the life of Kim Philby that could make up more than one adventure novel. By the way, some of its episodes dating back to the 30s formed the basis of Yulian Semenov’s story “The Spanish Version” and based on it in 1989 feature film, where Philby is shown under the name of the Latvian journalist Jan Palma, during civil war in Spain working for Soviet intelligence behind Franco's lines. This is exactly what happened in Philby’s life: a graduate of Cambridge University, keen on Marxist ideas, he came to the attention of Soviet agents in Great Britain in the early 30s. And in 1933 he was recruited by the famous Soviet intelligence officer Arnold Deitch. Then there was Spain, where Philby was a British war correspondent, and in 1940 his fate takes place unexpected turn and incredible luck for the Moscow center: Philby is recruited into the British intelligence service MI6. Soon he becomes one of its leaders, heads the liaison mission with the CIA in Washington, all the while transmitting valuable information to Moscow. In 1951 he almost failed, but Philby managed to avert all suspicion from himself. He retires, but continues to secretly collaborate with British intelligence, working as a correspondent for several British publications in the Middle East. But in 1963, serious suspicions fell on him again, and then Philby fled from Beirut to the USSR. Philby lived for the last quarter of a century in Moscow, where he died in 1988.

E. KISELEV: And now I would like to introduce the guests who are sitting with me in the studio. Today we have Kim Philby's widow, Rufina Philby. Hello! Thank you for agreeing to participate in our program today. And the person you know very well, who is one of many faces on “Echo of Moscow” - he hosts the program, and does everything he does, and takes part in other programs. But today we invited Yuri Kobaladze in his, let’s say, former capacity. It's in retail now, isn't it?

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

E. KISELEV: Well, we invited him as a major general of the foreign intelligence service, who personally knew Kim Philby. And let's start with this, maybe. How did this acquaintance happen?

Y. KOBALADZE: It happened... well, unexpectedly for me and my friends. It was 1973, when, as it were, new personnel came to intelligence, some new trend, and they remembered that there is such a person who has been living in Russia for almost 10 years, more, is an intelligence legend, a man of exceptional talents and qualities, and somehow the department that deals with England is simply obliged to get to know him, to have some kind of contact with him. And then Mikhail Fedorovich Lyubimov, who is Sasha Lyubimov’s dad and our former boss, he...

E. KISELEV: Both the writer and...

Y. KOBALADZE: ...and the writer, yes, and in many persons, he, as it were, was the initiator, and pulled Kim out to meet with us. And it was a truly significant day...

E. KISELEV: And they already knew each other by that time?

Y. KOBALADZE: He met him - there was some kind of reception especially for Kim, where there was leadership, there was an initial acquaintance, then everything, it was necessary to obtain permission, coordinate everything. And finally, all this happened, and we all gather, the “English”, yes, the so-called employees of the English direction, the English department, to meet Kim. I will never forget this evening, because Misha Bogdanov and I - Kim Philby’s favorite student - were tasked with buying a gift. And we, you can imagine, Moscow is completely empty, there is nothing in the shops, in general, to choose a gift, especially for a person we don’t know, and even an Englishman - in our opinion, very refined, very capricious, yes, who, here, I saw everything, I saw everything. And so Mishka and I drove all over Moscow and chose a gift for him - a mantel clock. What are they made of - malachite, or what?

R. PHILBY: Although we don’t have a fireplace.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, there is no fireplace, but we chose a mantel clock, it seemed to us very English, there was a needle for a candle on the head. And what was our amazement... firstly, when he accepted the gift, he was absolutely delighted. Those. Well, it seemed to us, well, he’s a polite man, of course, but what can he say? In fact, it turned out that we, without knowing it, accurately guessed the color. In his house there was – and still is – a table made of the same stone, brought from England. And this mantel clock simply organically lay on this table, and until now, here we come to Rufina Ivanovna - our clock decorates this table. And for me, of course, it was such a significant event. But hours and hours, but the meeting with him simply shocked us all, after five minutes we were all in love with him, because he was an extraordinary person who knew how to win over with his simplicity, modesty, restraint, and at the same time authority. I remember... for some reason I remember, I smoked a lot, and some cheap cigarettes. And that’s how the first such conversation began, the first meeting, which later resulted in a permanent seminar - well, how can it be, there is such a teacher, yes, an expert...

E. KISELEV: And it was called a seminar, right?

Y. KOBALADZE: No, this first meeting was just like that, an acquaintance, and then there was a seminar where a group of young employees was created who regularly, once a week, in my opinion, went to see him...

E. KISELEV: Did you immediately start going home, or at first to the safe house?

Y. KOBALADZE: First at a safe house. By the way, I was not a member of the first group, since I soon went on a business trip, so I kind of missed the first group. And when I returned from England and began working in the department, then I became the initiator of the resumption of these seminars. Kim was already old, it was difficult for him to move, and we met at his apartment. Well, just unforgettable meetings, especially when I myself began to, like, head this seminar, and I remember the first time I led the guys there and was also worried, thinking how it would all be - after five minutes again, there was an atmosphere absolutely friendly, comradely, i.e. no one felt that sitting in front of them was, well, firstly, an older man, truly legendary - somehow he knew how to very quickly find mutual language.

E. KISELEV: Well, tell me, please, by the time these seminars began, intelligence and counterintelligence work had probably gone far ahead. Well, first of all, due to the fact that scientific and technological progress is taking its toll.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, yes, I agree.

E. KISELEV: Probably, the experience that... active work both in intelligence in the British, and in... in connection with the Soviet station in Great Britain, in a sense, is outdated?

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, Zhenya, you point out correctly, i.e. Your question is clear. But Kim was not valuable, so...

E. KISELEV: What did he teach you?

Y. KOBALADZE: Not because he taught us how to lay hiding places or...

E. KISELEV: Didn’t you teach me how to lay hiding places?

Y. KOBALADZE: No, no, no, he was interesting...

E. KISELEV: I didn’t teach you how to get rid of outdoor advertising.

Y. KOBALADZE: No, no. Well, maybe there were some elements, but in fact, he was interesting because he knew England. He was part of the establishment, he understood those circles, those areas well, and knew many of the people with whom we had to work. Those. it was invaluable from the point of view of instilling in us skills, some kind of experience, albeit indirect, but, well... how is it all, how to speak, and what to say, and how to dress, and for whom it is needed, for what, there, a class or circle of people needs some special approach - that’s what made him interesting. And of course, stories about your own biography. He also didn’t tell us how he ran through the streets and detected surveillance - it was interesting how he worked in Spain, and how, under the guise of a journalist, and how, here, his career in America, where he just there, in five minutes, he could become director of the CIA and created the CIA. Those. That's what we were interested in. And not what we were taught there, in a special educational institution– they taught us there anyway, that is, how to engage in intelligence craft. No, just as a person like this, an erudite. Then, of course... we came to his apartment - it’s a huge library: English books, correspondence with Graham Greene, books with Greene's dedicatory inscription. Those. then Kim himself was the hero of many spy novels, and this is also interesting - how he feels...

E. KISELEV: I wonder how he felt about it? I remember, because it appears in at least one Forsythe novel...

Y. KOBALADZE: Forsythe, yes.

E. KISELEV: “The Fourth Protocol,” right?

Y. KOBALADZE: As an organizer, there was, in my opinion, a nuclear war in... But he treated it with humor, and nevertheless, he was also curious. We brought him some books, then there was an amazing meeting when our employees returned from London, who told him what had changed - you very accurately noticed that time moves forward, and many things that were under Kim ordinary and... they are outdated, and he was also interested: “Oh, how, I probably don’t understand everything anymore, so tell us how it is now.” Therefore, this is... this is what these seminars are memorable for. But the main thing was the personality. We last years We were very friendly when he no longer felt quite well, and we went to the hospital to see him - I remember he was in bed... But for some reason, you see, there are people... he played a big role in my life precisely with his human qualities. He showed how to behave, how to be punctual, how to be polite, how to structure a conversation correctly, how to be attentive, I...

E. KISELEV: Not in general, but in England?

Y. KOBALADZE: In general, in life.

E. KISELEV: In general, in life too?

Y. KOBALADZE: He said a brilliant phrase. Rufina Ivanovna once asked him: “Kim, why are you never mistaken?” It was so. He said, “Because I never make judgments about things I don’t know.” We are used to having our own opinion about everything, arguing about everything and proving that we are right. And he only spoke or assessed only what he knew well. And that's why I was never wrong. Here is his opinion on a range of issues that were well known to him. This, this... this is a great quality.

E. KISELEV: What year did you meet, Rufina Ivanovna?

R. PHILBY: In 1970.

E. KISELEV: How did this happen?

R. PHILBY: Well, it was completely accidental. I then worked with Blake’s wife, George Blake, also a famous intelligence officer. We became friends with her, she already married him. And somehow she... well, I had the opportunity to get tickets to the American “Ice Revue”, she asked me to get them, well, I got one ticket for myself. And we were supposed to meet near the Sportivnaya metro station to go to Luzhniki. And George’s mother, who was supposed to... was visiting them then, got sick, they didn’t go, and they invited Kim, about whom I only... we actually had the only article in Izvestia about him then, “Hello, Comrade Philby,” and then, this is a rather absurd article. So, in general, no one knew about him then, in those years, or heard of him. And me too. Here. And they just invited Kim for this extra ticket. And that’s how we met, I was introduced to him. He extended his hand to me, that’s it... I was wearing dark glasses - it was bright sunshine - suddenly he said: “Please take off your glasses, I want to see your eyes.” This surprised me.

E. KISELEV: Did you speak English?

R. PHILBY: No, in Russian.

E. KISELEV: In Russian.

R. PHILBY: He studied the Russian language and since he had a wonderful ear, he spoke very clearly, but sometimes, when we lived together, he made such funny mistakes, and I often repeated him then, something it entered into some of my vocabulary, and to this day I... feel like I’m saying it wrong. And he was offended that I did not correct him, that I did not teach him, that he stopped - then he began to live with me, stopped studying Russian, because there was no longer such a need, he began to be lazy.

E. KISELEV: That is. did you speak English at home?

R. PHILBY: And when we met, I didn’t speak English, I had some kind of school... in general, I just had to publish the most primitive ones... tomorrow, good morning, etc. And he also spoke Russian quite primitively. And so, we had a very funny one...

Y. KOBALADZE: That’s why it turned out to be such a strong marriage that they didn’t understand each other.

R. PHILBY: Yes, yes, yes. Sometimes it was very... almost ridiculous.

E. KISELEV: Listen, you were allowed to freely communicate like this with a person who was constantly under the supervision of counterintelligence, who was, in general, classified - I must say so.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, it was a different time...

E. KISELEV: Time...

Y. KOBALADZE: Oh, of course, it was, when he arrived, he also dreamed, when he was in the Soviet Union, that he would be invited to work in intelligence, there, they would give him a department, i.e. he will lead an active lifestyle. In fact, they put him in a golden cage: they provided him with everything he needed. Of course, he had better living conditions there, compared to ordinary Soviet citizens, access to some newspapers, everything. But he lived in a golden cage. For him, this breakthrough was when he was first invited to Yasenevo, the intelligence headquarters, and when he found himself in this huge hall, where, in my opinion, there were 800 seats, and he was greeted with applause - people just stood up and applauded him for a few minutes. He, of course, was very touched and then he also said such an amazing phrase that my dream had come true, so, I was finally at the headquarters of the Soviet intelligence service, for which I had worked all my life, dreaming of showing up here one day.

E. KISELEV: How many years has he been waiting for this? About 14 years old?

Y.KOBALADZE: Since 63...

R. PHILBY: Since 1963, when he arrived in Moscow.

Y. KOBALADZE: He arrived, and this, I tell you, is seventy?

R. PHILBY: This is already some fifth...

Y. KOBALADZE: 75th, 77th, probably already.

R. PHILBY: Here you can...

E. KISELEV: 77th year.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, 77th, exactly.

R. PHILBY: Yes.

E. KISELEV: In the book “I walked my own path”...

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, yes, yes, 77th.

E. KISELEV: This speech, this speech is given there.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, then not...

E. KISELEV: And it was the 77th. The man waited for 14 years.

Y.KOBALADZE: 14 years old. But the main thing is that...

E. KISELEV: ...that he will be brought to intelligence headquarters.

Y. KOBALADZE: But when they brought him, already at that time, well, it seemed absurd - why not earlier? Well, somehow no one asked this question, but on that day and at that time, it would seem that it seemed completely natural that such a person should have some kind of contact, should...

E. KISELEV: Well, okay, why? Why did you have to wait 14 years?

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, because that was the time. They didn’t trust their own people, but here was an incomprehensible Englishman, and in general, they probably studied him...

R. PHILBY: Well, it’s better just in case...

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, just in case - you never know, who... here... God protects the safe, and no one really cared about him, there were experiences, his personal, one might say, tragedy, and the person was kept locked up, although they could, of course , to use in subsequent years, at least a galaxy of Soviet intelligence officers working in the English department still remembers his name with trepidation, because he gave a lot, and at least to use it in this way. And he was used through other, in my opinion, channels - as an expert, consultant, yes, but he never worked in intelligence - in Soviet intelligence - as an employee.

E. KISELEV: He had no title.

Y. KOBALADZE: He had no title, no... I don’t know, he had state awards later, right?

R. PHILBY: There were awards, yes, yes. But there is no title.

E. KISELEV: What was the highest?

R. PHILBY: He had the Order of Lenin, then...

Y. KOBALADZE: But that’s upon arrival.

R. PHILBY: The Red Banner - he valued this Order of the Red Banner most of all. Here.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, that is. you can divide it into two parts, his stay in the Soviet Union: complete isolation, then acquaintance with Rufina Ivanovna, and he himself - i.e. he told me this, this is not from the books - that he, you know, had such a trail behind him, a legend, that he was such a great womanizer, yes, that he was a fan of women, since he had four wives. And he himself explained that there were also random marriages. There, the first marriage - he simply saved this girl from fascist persecution. Well, etc., and so, he says, I finally...

R. PHILBY: It was purely political...

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, yes.

R. PHILBY: Because otherwise, thanks to the fact that he gave her an English passport, she was saved... he actually took her out of Austria.

Y. KOBALADZE: Therefore, Rufina Ivanovna was the light in the window for him, she... he directly said that she saved him. He began to drink a lot when, during this first period of this isolation, as if he could not find a place for himself - and Rufina Ivanovna, when he did to her... Well, let her tell it herself, since this must be heard first hand.

E. KISELEV: Well, everyone was having a hard time - these are the members of the so-called Cambridge Five who...

Y. KOBALADZE: In different ways. Differently.

E. KISELEV: ...they got there, Guy Burgess just got drunk...

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, in different ways.

R. PHILBY: Miscellaneous.

Y. KOBALADZE: And someone found himself, like McLean, he...

R. PHILBY: Yes, MacLean worked at the institute - USA, in my opinion, right?

Y. KOBALADZE: No, he...

R. PHILBY: What was it called then? What institute is this?

E. KISELEV: World economy.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes. World economy.

E. KISELEV: International relations, published under a pseudonym, I don’t remember now...

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, and he wrote an excellent book “The Politics of England after Suez.”

E. KISELEV: You know, let’s take a break here now, we now have mid-hour news on Ekho Moskvy. And then we’ll continue talking about Kim Philby. Stay with us.

E. KISELEV: We continue the “Our Everything” program on “Echo of Moscow”, the program presenter Evgeny Kiselev is in the studio, and my guests Yuri Kobaladze and Rufina Philby are here with me. With them we remember the legendary Soviet intelligence officer of English origin, Kim Philby. We settled on the fact that Rufina Ivanovna promised to tell how she married Philby. Did he propose to you?

R. PHILBY: He proposed quite quickly, it was after our third meeting. Also, if the first one was completely random, the second two... the second one was just me. The Blakes invited me to the dacha, and it turned out that Kim had arrived there - but it was no longer by chance that he came...

Y.KOBALADZE: That is. You... You were taken...

R. PHILBY: Yes. But that will take some time. And then he arranged the trip himself - as I later found out - but Ida also invited me, I thought. This is according to the Golden Ring, George Blake had a car, but Kim never had a car - he didn’t want to.

E. KISELEV: He didn’t love, or..?

R. PHILBY: He knew how difficult it was here... he didn’t want it, he says, “you need oil, a garage, all these problems.” He did not want.

E. KISELEV: Why wouldn’t the curators help solve these problems?

R. PHILBY: Well, curators...

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, they would have helped, but he didn’t really want to, apparently...

R. PHILBY: I didn’t want to.

E. KISELEV: Should I do you another favor?

R. PHILBY: Yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: He liked to sit at the reception desk... Yes, and that included... reading books - that is... Then, he lived in the center of Moscow - you lived, yes, in the center of Moscow, he had a special need...

R. PHILBY: Yes, yes, he loved to walk just like that. We called a taxi; if necessary, we were not denied a car with a driver if we were going somewhere far away - to meet children, to the airport, etc. Well, the third meeting was when I said that I was invited to make this trip. And by the way, Ida said that Kim was coming too. But for me then it was a rather abstract name... a meeting, but I liked it as interesting person, such a pleasant conversationalist, but nothing more - no I... did not come to me...

E. KISELEV: Was it the 70th year?

R. PHILBY: It was the 70th year. He was…

E. KISELEV: So he was already about 60 then.

R. PHILBY: He was 69, he was about 70.

E. KISELEV: Close to 70!

R. PHILBY: 69.

Y. KOBALADZE: 70s... no, no, he was born in 1912.

R. PHILBY: Oh, no, no, no – 59. Sorry.

Y.KOBALADZE: Yes, 59.

E. KISELEV: No, he was... he was about 60.

R. PHILBY: I have already reached the stage when I already have, you know, dozens of everything.

Y. KOBALADZE: But we control you, Rufina Ivanovna, be careful, the numbers...

R. PHILBY: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Here. And I was 38 then. I still remember this. Well, here we go. And then, when we were in Yaroslavl, here, among ours, was one of our points, where we stopped for three days, the longest trip. And we walked there, a very beautiful city, beautiful squares, in the evening we walked. And I already felt that Kim was somehow not indifferent, and it only bothered me then. I was tense and tried to get closer to Ida, there, with the Blakes, and he tried to pull me away for some conversation. Well, finally he couldn’t stand it, he just grabbed my hand - and he, I must say, had a very strong grip, so tightly - he sat me down on the bench and said... I still remember these words, I quote literally: “I want to marry you "

Y.KOBALADZE: I want to get married...

R. PHILBY: Marry you. This is how he spoke Russian. Well, firstly, it amazed me, secondly, it scared me, and thirdly, this phrase of his made me laugh. But even I was so amazed and confused that there was no time for laughter, on the other hand. Well, I started muttering something incomprehensible, “when”, yes, “we don’t know each other”, and in general, what, why - well, I was completely dumbfounded, not ready. "You do not know me at all". “No, I know everything, I see everything,” that means he has that look. But then I began to intimidate him that I was not fit to be a wife at all, I was lazy, I was a waste of money, and in general, I was in poor health and liked to relax. This didn’t scare him, “I don’t need anything, I will... I do everything myself, I like to do everything myself. I have decided everything." But then he began to reassure me: “I’m not a boy, I can wait - think about it.” Well, in general, he decided everything. But on this he calmed me down, well, I broke away, we left, it was already late, we went to the hotel. Well, when we got to the door, he opened the door for me and held it a little and asked: “Can I hope?” I said so arrogantly: “Yes.” So that gave me hope. But that was the end. But the next morning it seemed to me that it was some kind of strange dream, I had already forgotten about it, but when we were traveling in a taxi, i.e. in the car, together, he was sitting next to me, I felt how tense he was - we got out of the car several times, and he talked for a long time about something with George, I felt that there was some kind of discussion going on, he was very busy with this topic. Well, then he invited me to lunch the next day at the Metropol. This was his favorite restaurant then, and he visited it regularly. I chose Saturdays, when there are fewer people, when... in the afternoon at a certain time, when not... And so, I went there 40 minutes late. I'm still ashamed. Well, when I was already walking, I was ashamed that this was really not a boy, that I made him wait. I was sure that he had left and I only consoled myself with the fact that he left me his phone number on a piece of paper, that I would call and apologize. But I saw this mournful figure - he was standing there, leaning, it was a very hot day - and when he saw me, such a blissful smile spread out on him. And then my heart began to melt - I saw such a kind and benevolent person. And when we were sitting at lunch, I was amazed that I felt so at ease with him, as if I had known him for a long time, we were talking about something, everything went so naturally. Then he invited me to tea, since he lived not far from where I live now - on Tverskaya. We came for tea and sat in the kitchen, and again talked for a long time. And it was already dark, then he said sarcastically: “I invited you to tea, but it seems you are going to stay for dinner.” Well, I didn’t stay for dinner, but he repeated his offer, and then, against my will, I completely fell under his charm and said “yes.” That's how quickly it happened.

Y. KOBALADZE: Rufina Ivanovna, I told you, there are some fantastic coincidences in life. In the building where I still have an apartment, on Sokol, which means I found out years later, a woman came up to me and said: “Do you know who your neighbor was, there, in the next entrance?” Those. an apartment that is adjacent to mine, but you can enter it from the next entrance. Kim Philby. Did I tell you about this? I still wanted...

R. PHILBY: Yes, you said, I also wanted to somehow clarify exactly where.

Y. KOBALADZE: On Sokol, yes. Now, he lived at first, when he came, he lived in this house. This is old...

R. PHILBY: Will you take me there sometime, I’ll be interested to see.

Y. KOBALADZE: But I have never been in this apartment, some other people already live there, but this aunt, who, you know, is... what is it called, who manages the whole house, knows everyone and everything... But this it was a very long time ago. “Do you know who your neighbor was?” Because she found out that I work in intelligence - “You will be interested.” Kim Philby.

R. PHILBY: He... for the first time they settled him there, he lived for some time, and then he was offered this apartment to choose from, where we lived together.

Y. KOBALADZE: In Trekhprudny Lane, right?

R. PHILBY: Yes. Four-room. But there was also a nice apartment there, but he says he was immediately attracted to the area. But the main thing is that the house is located in such a quiet place, although the Garden Ring is nearby, and that’s all...

E. KISELEV: I know, I lived there myself at one time, so... In Bogoslovsky Lane.

R. PHILBY: Oh, well, of course, it’s very close.

E. KISELEV: For many years, and the house is like this, it really is all... standing in the depths.

R. PHILBY: Look, look, look, it’s completely closed, and there’s absolute silence.

E. KISELEV: Quiet...

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, and he was offered to move, you were offered.

R. PHILBY: Yes, and then...

R. PHILBY: He adored his apartment.

Y. KOBALADZE: Although the apartment, well, especially according to current standards...

R. PHILBY: Yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, extremely modest and extremely simple.

R. PHILBY: Yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, everything is there - the office, most importantly, his favorite. And I especially love this receiver of yours “Festival”.

R. PHILBY: Yes, yes, yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: Which is still working. Lamp.

R. PHILBY: Yes.

E. KISELEV: Isn’t there a memorial plaque there?

Y. KOBALADZE: Oh, that’s a different story. I would really like it to appear...

R. PHILBY: The topic has already been raised about this, and it was raised by my neighbors, who, as always, I didn’t know anyone, but it turns out they all knew. So they raised this question. But then, when I began to speak at their request with our people, they said that they had reached the Moscow City Council, that they had accepted all this very positively, with enthusiasm, and everything was already ready, signed...

Y. KOBALADZE: It’s just that the bureaucracy is slowing down, although everyone there agreed...

R. PHILBY: But it’s somewhere, something in our system, I don’t know... they say the house is not suitable, or something else. In general, everything has come to a standstill.

Y. KOBALADZE: But we are working - a group of enthusiasts is breaking through.

E. KISELEV: In any case, the deadline is already established by law...

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, in general, of course...

R. PHILBY: Deadline - what are you talking about...

E. KISELEV: ...passed - there, in my opinion...

R. PHILBY: Since 1988, what are you talking about?

E. KISELEV: 10 years must pass from the date of death.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes.

R. PHILBY: Yes.

E. KISELEV: According to the law.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, undoubtedly, a person who deserves some mention.

E. KISELEV: But we talked about the fact that there was mistrust, right? I remember reading, I think, in an essay by Mikhail Petrovich Lyubimov, that he recalls that some intelligence veterans, for example, General Reichman, were convinced until the end of their lives that Philby was a double agent.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, and not only him, there are many. But in fact, elementary... not even knowledge of the details, but an elementary comparison of the information that generally came from the five, as it were, refutes the very idea, the very guess that maybe they were double agents. Well, this is absurd. Well, this, again, was the time - they suspected, there, their own parents, there, their children. Not to mention the intelligence officers, who were practically destroyed - there, too, Kim told me that there were cases when he, there, went to a meeting, and a new employee came. “Where is the previous one?” - “Well, there, he was recalled.” In fact, they did not recall, but the person disappeared altogether, no one knows where. But this is a separate topic, in general, about the tragedy, in general, of Soviet society and intelligence in particular. Therefore, yes, there were people who questioned everything and built their careers on this...

E. KISELEV: There is even, in my opinion, some kind of paper in his personal file...

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, yes, there. By the way, I...

E. KISELEV: Written by some woman.

R. PHILBY: Marzhanskaya.

Y. KOBALADZE: Morzhanskaya, yes.

E. KISELEV: Absolutely right, yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: Who made, in general, almost her career on this - that’s all she is.

R. PHILBY: She just...

E. KISELEV: In connection with these suspicions, there was, in my opinion, some kind of break in the Center’s communication with, specifically, Philby’s group.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, I don’t remember now, maybe there was something, because there was general suspicion, but again, especially when the war began, and when every person was worth his weight in gold, especially in England - the key country - then, of course, all this was quickly restored.

R. PHILBY: Moreover, such valuable information that he gave was simply not taken into account for the same reason.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, this is not... This is the tragedy of Kim and these five. Well, if not a tragedy, then, of course... well, time, time.

R. PHILBY: Yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: Such is the time. And of course, it’s a shame that he spent 13 years in total - not because someone there didn’t trust him, it was funny, yes, to assume that he was sent here by the British, or, there, his someone will steal, or steal, or... but that was the style of life. It took years, it took the arrival of a new generation - the people there, my comrades, the same Lyubimov - to understand the absurdity of this situation. A man who dedicated his life - and never regretted it, by the way, that he connected his life with Soviet intelligence, with the cause of communism in his mind - and this man is isolated and not used in any way, although he is “used”, perhaps in a bad way word. Therefore, all this changed dramatically and indeed for the second part of his life in Russia, in the Soviet Union he was, in general, well, happy man, primarily thanks to Rufina Ivanovna, since his personal life has improved. He seemed to have calmed down, and plus, he got students.

E. KISELEV: Did he have nostalgia for England?

Y. KOBALADZE: I think it was.

R. PHILBY: No.

E. KISELEV: No?

Y. KOBALADZE: It wasn’t?

R. PHILBY: He always told me... he said that... well, he is a man of the world, as they say here, because he says: “I was born in India, I lived, I traveled all over the world, so. .” He always loved Russia, he says that since his student years he was interested in Russian literature. He knew Russian history very well; few people here know history as well as he did, even specialists. I was ashamed, actually, with him, of course, for my knowledge. Not even to mention mine... he knew perfectly well...

Y.KOBALADZE: In general, how...

R. PHILBY: He knew all of Dostoevsky, there, Chekhov... well, he knew all the literature, he... read these books in translation, though. And he just loved... well, he was somehow attached, Russia gave him some kind of warm feeling, you know, so...

Y. KOBALADZE: How strange - if only...

R. PHILBY: And when one of our employees said that, now this is a second homeland, he rejected it, he said, there is only one homeland, this is not a second homeland. Well, he just loved Russia. And he liked living in Russia, you know? Another thing is that he was oppressed by these stupid conditions of ours, by those wasted years that he lost. It somehow happened - well, like a coincidence, maybe something else - when we started living together, his life somehow turned around. He became in demand, began to work, but unfortunately, this was a short period - he was already starting to get sick, his strength was no longer the same. But the most important years were lost. He told me that he was simply dumbfounded, he was crushed. Says, “I came, I had so much to give, I was full of information, so helpful. I wrote and wrote endlessly, as he called it, I wrote and wrote these memorandums, as he called it, he says. “I gave it away, but it turned out that no one needed it, no one even read it.” And of course, this is his... a man who is so active and who devoted literally his entire life to such a cause and suddenly was literally left behind. Well, of course, it was a tragedy.

E. KISELEV: Is it true that General Kalugin played a big role in Philby’s return to more active work?

Y. KOBALADZE: I don’t rule it out, yes, I don’t rule it out, because at that time he held a key position - he was the head of foreign counterintelligence...

E. KISELEV: Externally, yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: And of course, his word was worth a lot. Well, he was, according to the standards of that time, a modern, progressive man, and he probably had a hand in this. But what’s interesting is that you asked a question... For me, if Rufin Ivanovna had not been here, she would not have answered this question - so it always seemed to me that here, a hundred percent Englishman, who... well, he can’t help but feel some kind of nostalgia for England. Moreover, as he received, we specially subscribed to the Times newspaper, and he solved a crossword puzzle every day. Moreover, he guessed it inside and out. Let me tell you, the Times crosswords are not simple... they are not simple crosswords...

R. PHILBY: (laughs)

Y. KOBALADZE: This was his hobby. Well, I simply don’t dare argue with Rufina Ivanovna, but for us, for me, for my comrades, of course, he was the personification of England, like that... even his manner of speaking with that slight stutter, in general, his manners . So I drew from him the image of the Englishman whom I would see there, in a year, two, three...

R. PHILBY: No, he, of course, did not become Russified, and indeed he was a true Englishman.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, yes.

R. PHILBY: But then I...

E. KISELEV: But already scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast...

Y.KOBALADZE: He...

R. PHILBY: Scrambled eggs and bacon...

Y. KOBALADZE: But he loved cranberry juice - I remember that well. Remember, we’re taking him to the hospital... I think he asked for cranberries.

R. PHILBY: You know what he asked me...

E. KISELEV: Orange jam?

Y. KOBALADZE: They definitely sent it.

R. PHILBY: Yes, yes, yes.

E. KISELEV: They sent it, right?

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, we are from...

R. PHILBY: Orange...

E. KISELEV: Marmalade, or rather, yes, marmalade.

R. PHILBY: Oxford orange thick-cut marmalade. This is exactly the kind of Oxford, so that in thick pieces...

Y. KOBALADZE: In thick pieces. We sent this to him.

R. PHILBY: Of the special bitter oranges, these are the only ones. This is what he brought and valued.

Y. KOBALADZE: And curry.

R. PHILBY: After all, that was a time of constant shortages, you know. This was for him, once one of his students brought this marmalade, or something else English - whiskey - this is a rare case.

E. KISELEV: Okay, but how did he feel about the realities of life in the Soviet Union - about the deficit, I don’t know, about corruption, about...

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, like everyone else...

R. PHILBY: He was realistic, he was real.

Y. KOBALADZE: The same way we all treated him, so did he.

R. PHILBY: Yes. And he took it more painfully than any of us, you know?

Y. KOBALADZE: He said, Rufina Ivanovna, that “give me a bakery, I’ll put things in order there.” He was annoyed that...

R. PHILBY: Yes, he was annoyed when he was without work, he says: “Give me any job,” he says. Well, I remember, he said: “Well, for example, a transport agency. I will fix any industry.” Do you understand? He was ready to work anywhere. And this situation, and he was very worried, was this inequality. He saw these poor people, poor old women. His heart just ached, I felt how painfully he looked at it. He saw when these poor poorly dressed old women - he said: “How could this be allowed to happen?” He pointed his finger and said: “After all, they won the war.”

E. KISELEV: And he believed that the West represents military threat To the Soviet Union, that NATO, there, can attack the USSR?

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, I am convinced that... I believed that the confrontation, the Cold War, this is resistance, antagonism across the entire spectrum, that means...

R. PHILBY: Well, at that time - it was the height of the Cold War, of course, it was.

Y.KOBALADZE: Of course. And he dedicated his life to this.

E. KISELEV: That is. in this sense was he a man of his time?

Y. KOBALADZE: Of his time, absolutely, and there was time - he had reason to think so, because he saw what was being created there, the CIA, he saw what intrigues the British government was also building there against the Soviet government. He knew all these nuances of the negotiations, what kind of behind-the-scenes work England and British intelligence were doing against... That is. it was all realities, yes, and he lived in these realities, and understood all this, of course, he could not help but share this point of view.

E. KISELEV: How did he perceive the beginning of perestroika? After all, he saw the first Gorbachev years.

R. PHILBY: Yes, he did. He took it with great enthusiasm. Well, in general, I must say, he watched the “Time” program every day - he was not distracted. Very true...

Y.KOBALADZE: With enthusiasm.

R. PHILBY: ...with enthusiasm. Well, then, when I saw Gorbachev, he began to irritate him... I wanted to say “verbosity” - I forgot the word. Verbosity, yes. Demagoguery, demagoguery.

E. KISELEV: Tendency to talk a lot and for a long time.

R. PHILBY: Yes. Talk a lot and for a long time. But... this is demagoguery, which somehow has not been translated into action, you understand? He was starting to get annoyed and was starting to move away from it. But this was the very beginning, because he passed away in 1988. All this just started, you know. So there were few such changes.

E. KISELEV: Well, in any case, in the year 1987, if we even remember one year 1987, how much there was then - if we take only the media, how many bans were lifted, how many there were...

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, of course, well...

E.KISELEV: ...then it is printed. Actually, they started talking about Philby again right then.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, yes.

R. PHILBY: Yes.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, then journalists began to travel, including English ones - interviews. Those. he seems to be very active with them...

R. PHILBY: No, by the way...

Y. KOBALADZE: Books appeared...

R. PHILBY: No, he was not allowed...

E. KISELEV: And Philip Knightley at the same time, in my opinion...

Y. KOBALADZE: Philip Knightley has arrived.

R. PHILBY: This is only Philip Knightley. He was not allowed... there were, I remember, his old friends, whom even I continue to meet when I am in London - such as Richard Beeston, he worked for the Daily Telegraph and was our correspondent, he was a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph in Moscow " And Kim himself also avoided journalists. Well, he knew that he shouldn’t meet foreigners and avoided it in every possible way - he didn’t want to. But the funny thing is that when we went to the Bolshoi Theater for the first time - he even avoided any public places where we could meet - the first time we found ourselves at the Bolshoi Theater, we immediately ran into a couple of Beestons - what a coincidence . And they sent us greeting cards, Merry Christmas, and invited us to Christmas. But Kim couldn’t even answer then, it was all... no to him. The only thing is that the first journalist was Philip Knightley, with whom he agreed to meet. Because firstly, he explained this by the fact that... he read all the books that were published about him - that this was the only book that seemed to him the most objective about him, and in general he liked his books. Well, and besides, he was friends with his son. And then permission was arranged, which means Knightley arrived. Moreover, he was at our house. So this was the first such case, the first such meeting.

Y. KOBALADZE: Yes, if he had lived another three years, when after 1991, when, among other things, a press bureau was created in intelligence, I am convinced that he would...

E. KISELEV: I would become a more public figure.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, of course, I would become more public, no doubt. So, I know this from other examples, and even more so, he is truly a legendary person.

E. KISELEV: And especially since, there, you, Yuri Georgievich, headed this bureau.

Y. KOBALADZE: Well, yes, I have no doubt that we would, as it were, involve him in this work, since he is, well, priceless...

E. KISELEV: Well, unfortunately, it didn’t work out.

Y. KOBALADZE: It didn’t work out, yes.

E. KISELEV: This was not given by fate. Well, I thank you! Our time has quietly come to an end. Let me remind you that today our program was visited by Yuri Kobaladze in his capacity as Major General of the Foreign Intelligence Service...

Y. KOBALADZE: Retired.

E. KISELEV: Retired, yes. And the former boss... was it then called the Center for Public Relations?

Y. KOBALADZE: Press bureau.

E. KISELEV: You were called the Press Bureau back then, right? Press Bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service. And Rufina Ivanovna Philby, the widow of the legendary intelligence officer. That's all, I say goodbye, see you next Sunday.

MOSCOW, September 9 – RIA Novosti, Andrey Kots. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service dedicates this September to Kim Philby, a member of the legendary British “Cambridge Five”, which included high-ranking intelligence officers and the British Foreign Ministry who secretly worked for Soviet Union in 1940-1950. SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin on September 1 congratulated the intelligence officer's widow Rufina Pukhova-Philby on her 85th birthday and said that on September 15 a unique exhibition would open in the building of the Russian Historical Society, which would present declassified archival documents from the department about the life of Kim Philby, his awards and personal things. Most of the stories about the operational past of one of the heads of British intelligence have not yet been made public. But even known facts they say that this man decided the destinies of entire states.

Prevent another war

Kim Philby was recruited by illegal Soviet spy Arnold Deitch in 1934. During the Spanish Civil War, he worked in the combat zone as a special correspondent for the Times newspaper, while simultaneously carrying out assignments from curators from Moscow. In 1940, Philby joined the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and two years later took the post of deputy chief of counterintelligence. It was during the Second World War that he carried out a number of brilliant operations that seriously influenced its outcome.

It is no secret that in Nazi Germany there was an informal “club” of politicians and military personnel who sought to end the war, including by overthrowing Hitler. These people viewed Great Britain as a possible ally and “intercessor.” SIS constantly maintained contacts with potential conspirators through secret channels. According to the intelligence service, the British government could reach an agreement with the Germans. This was explained by the fact that the SIS and certain British circles shared the German point of view that both countries were fighting the “wrong war”. Allegedly, Germany and Great Britain were supposed to fight together against the Soviet Union.

The Red Army had not yet marched to the West. The outcome of the war was not yet predetermined. But when the situation on the fronts began to develop in favor of the allies anti-Hitler coalition, people who advocated a separate peace with Great Britain in Germany renewed their attempts to build bridges with Foggy Albion. Looking at the growing power of the Red Army with each victory, part of the British establishment began to see the USSR as a great threat and were inclined to make a deal with the Germans. However, the document proposing such a conspiracy still had to be approved by Philby. He immediately blocked the dissemination of the “peace treaty” to the British government and its allies, saying that it was hypothetical. Later he informed Moscow about what was happening.

“The leadership of the USSR was worried that the war could become a war only against Russia,” said Kim Philby in his last interview in 1988 with the English writer and publicist Philip Knightley. “But one of the reasons for my actions in this direction was that the complete defeat of Germany was a matter of principle for me. I hated the war. Even after it ended, it was difficult for me to forget what the Germans had done. For a long time I could not bring myself to visit East Germany."

Later, Philby repeatedly blocked his colleagues’ attempts to “fraternize” with the German conspirators. It was he who rejected the proposal of the head of the service, transmitted through secret channels military intelligence and Nazi German counterintelligence Admiral Wilhelm Canaris meet with SIS chief Stuart Menzies. Philby rebuked the admiral's representative, saying that the outcome of the war would be determined by force of arms.

The Soviet intelligence officer cut short all possibilities of uniting Germany with Great Britain (and then the USA) into a military alliance directed against Russia. During the war alone, he transferred 914 secret documents to Moscow. Fortunately, Kim Philby was professional and influential enough to successfully complete the difficult task. Otherwise, the map of post-war Europe might have looked very different.

A stranger among his own

In 1944, Kim Philby became head of SIS Section 9, which dealt with Soviet and communist activities in Britain. In the early years cold war the intelligence officer conveyed information to the Soviet side about the work of British agents on the territory of the USSR. The vast majority of the results of his activities during this period are classified. But it is known, for example, that Philby actually disrupted anti-Soviet protests in socialist Albania. He coordinated a joint CIA/SIS operation to infiltrate agents into that country in the late 1940s and early 1950s in order to foment an insurrection there. Philby reported this operation to the KGB, and the agents were caught and shot after landing.

“There should be no regrets. Yes, I played a certain role in disrupting the plan developed by the West to organize a bloodbath in the Balkans,” Philby said in an interview with Philip Knightley. “But those who conceived and planned this operation, just like me, allowed for the possibility of bloodshed for political purposes. The agents they sent into Albania were armed and determined to carry out acts of sabotage and murder. Therefore, I do not regret that I contributed to their destruction - they knew what they were doing. Don't forget that earlier I was also involved in the liquidation of a significant number of Nazis, thus making my modest contribution to the victory over fascism."

In 1949, Philby received an appointment in Washington, where he oversaw the joint activities of the British intelligence services, the FBI and the CIA to combat the “threat of communism.” By receiving the latest information about Soviet defectors, he ensured that key Soviet intelligence agents could be taken out of harm's way. One can only guess how much he helped the Soviet intelligence network in Western countries and how many British and American spies he handed over to the KGB. At the same time, he enjoyed the almost complete confidence of his immediate superiors. In the future, he was even predicted to be the deputy head of SIS.

Beirut business trip

However, all luck runs out. In 1951, the first two members of the Cambridge Five were exposed: Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess. Philby warned them of the danger, but he himself came under suspicion. In November 1952, he was interrogated by the British counterintelligence MI5, but due to lack of evidence, Philby was released. And in 1955 he was dismissed. But a year later, Kim Philby is taken under the wing of MI6, the British intelligence service. Under the cover of a correspondent for The Observer newspaper and The Economist magazine, he was sent to Beirut, where for several years he continued to collect important information for the USSR about the political situation in the Middle East. This part of his life is a mystery even to the most seasoned experts in the history of the intelligence services.

“From 1956 to 1963 I was in the Middle East,” recalled Kim Philby at the end of his autobiography “My Secret War.” “The Western press published many fabrications about this period of my work, but for now I will leave them on the conscience of the authors. The fact is , that the British and American intelligence services managed to fairly accurately reproduce the picture of my activities only before 1955, and, according to all data, they know nothing about my further work. And I do not intend to help them with this. The time will come when it will be possible to write another book and tell about other events in it. In any case, for Soviet intelligence it was not without interest to know about the subversive activities of the CIA and SIS in the Middle East."

On January 23, 1963, Kim Philby was evacuated by the Soviets from Beirut - he again fell under the suspicion of his immediate superiors and could have been exposed. Until the end of his life he lived in an apartment in the center of Moscow. Philip Knightley, the only Western publicist who visited Philby's home, recalled that the intelligence officer's library occupied three walls and contained 12 thousand books. Surely a complete history of Kim Philby's operational work for the Soviet intelligence services would take at least a dozen volumes. But many of its details will remain classified as “secret” for a long time.

Son of the famous British Arabist Harry St. John Bridger Philby.

Biography

Shortly before his death, in 1988, Philby in his Moscow apartment gave an interview to the English writer and publicist Philip Knightley, who visited him with the permission of the KGB. The interview was published in the London Sunday Times in the spring of 1988. According to Knightley, the defector lived in an apartment that he called one of the best in Moscow. Previously, it belonged to a certain high official from the USSR Foreign Ministry. When the diplomat moved to a new house, the KGB immediately recommended Philby's vacated home. “I immediately grabbed this apartment,” the scout said in his last interview. - Even though it is located in the center of Moscow, it is so quiet here, as if you were outside the city. The windows face east, west and southwest, so I catch the sun all day long.”

It is noted that Philby’s apartment, based on the possibility of his abduction by British intelligence services, was in the best location from a security point of view: travel to the house is difficult, the entrance itself and the approaches to it were easily visible and controlled. Philby's telephone number was not indicated in address books and lists of Moscow subscribers; correspondence came to him through a post office box at the Main Post Office.

Philip Knightley spoke about Philby’s last home: “From the large entrance hall, a corridor leads to the matrimonial bedroom, a guest bedroom, a dressing room, a bathroom, a kitchen and a large living room the width of almost the entire apartment. A spacious office is visible from the living room. The office contains a desk, a secretary, a couple of chairs and a huge refrigerator. A Turkish carpet and wool carpet cover the floor. Philby’s library, numbering 12 thousand volumes, is housed on bookshelves occupying three walls.”

Kim Philby died on May 11, 1988. He was buried at the new Kuntsevo cemetery.

Awards

• Awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, Patriotic War I degree, Friendship of Peoples and medals, as well as the sign “Honorary State Security Officer”.

Rufina Pukhova

Rufina Ivanovna Pukhova(sometimes a double surname is indicated Pukhova-Philby, R. September 1, 1932, Moscow) - the fourth and last wife of the Soviet intelligence officer and member of the Cambridge Five, Kim Philby, and the author of memoirs about his life in Moscow. She was born from a Russian father and a Polish mother in Moscow in 1932. Worked as a proofreader and survived the Second World War and cancer. She married Kim Philby in 1971, having met him after he fled to the USSR, through George Blake, and lived with him until the latter's death in 1988 in an apartment near the Kievsky railway station and the Moskva River. These years were not easy - at first, my husband drank, and he also suffered from depression and disappointment with some Soviet realities. When Philby eventually died, his widow dismissed rumors of his suicide, insisting that he died from heart problems. In her memoirs, which were published after the death of her husband, she described the years spent in his company, his motives and hidden thoughts, and the texts also included previously unpublished autobiographical fragments written by Kim Philby himself.

Memoirs written by Rufina Ivanovna

• Island on the Sixth Floor(included in the collection about Kim Philby)
• The private life of Kim Philby: the Moscow years ( The Private Life of Kim Philby: The Moscow Years) (2000).

see also

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Notes

Literature

• Knightley F. Kim Philby is a KGB super spy. - M.: Republic, 1992. - ISBN 5-250-01806-8
• Philby K. My secret war. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1980.
• "I went my own way." Kim Philby in intelligence and in life. - M.: International relationships, 1997. - ISBN 5-7133-0937-1
• Dolgopolov N. M. Kim Philby. - (ZhZL Series) - M.: Young Guard, 2011.

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Excerpt characterizing Philby, Kim

“That’s why I asked,” Natasha whispered to her little brother and Pierre, whom she looked at again.
“Ice cream, but they won’t give it to you,” said Marya Dmitrievna.
Natasha saw that there was nothing to be afraid of, and therefore she was not afraid of Marya Dmitrievna.
- Marya Dmitrievna? what ice cream! I don't like cream.
- Carrot.
- No, which one? Marya Dmitrievna, which one? – she almost screamed. - I want to know!
Marya Dmitrievna and the Countess laughed, and all the guests followed them. Everyone laughed not at Marya Dmitrievna’s answer, but at the incomprehensible courage and dexterity of this girl, who knew how and dared to treat Marya Dmitrievna like that.
Natasha fell behind only when she was told that there would be pineapple. Champagne was served before the ice cream. The music started playing again, the count kissed the countess, and the guests stood up and congratulated the countess, clinking glasses across the table with the count, the children, and each other. Waiters ran in again, chairs rattled, and in the same order, but with redder faces, the guests returned to the drawing room and the count's office.

The Boston tables were moved apart, the parties were drawn up, and the Count's guests settled in two living rooms, a sofa room and a library.
The Count, fanning out his cards, could hardly resist the habit of an afternoon nap and laughed at everything. The youth, incited by the countess, gathered around the clavichord and harp. Julie was the first, at the request of everyone, to play a piece with variations on the harp and, together with other girls, began to ask Natasha and Nikolai, known for their musicality, to sing something. Natasha, who was addressed as a big girl, was apparently very proud of this, but at the same time she was timid.
- What are we going to sing? – she asked.
“The key,” answered Nikolai.
- Well, let's hurry up. Boris, come here,” Natasha said. - Where is Sonya?
She looked around and, seeing that her friend was not in the room, ran after her.
Running into Sonya’s room and not finding her friend there, Natasha ran into the nursery - and Sonya was not there. Natasha realized that Sonya was in the corridor on the chest. The chest in the corridor was the place of sorrows of the younger female generation of the Rostov house. Indeed, Sonya in her airy pink dress, crushing it, lay face down on her nanny’s dirty striped feather bed, on the chest and, covering her face with her fingers, cried bitterly, shaking her bare shoulders. Natasha's face, animated, with a birthday all day, suddenly changed: her eyes stopped, then her wide neck shuddered, the corners of her lips drooped.
- Sonya! what are you?... What, what's wrong with you? Wow wow!…
And Natasha, opening her big mouth and becoming completely stupid, began to roar like a child, not knowing the reason and only because Sonya was crying. Sonya wanted to raise her head, wanted to answer, but she couldn’t and hid even more. Natasha cried, sitting down on the blue feather bed and hugging her friend. Having gathered her strength, Sonya stood up, began to wipe away her tears and tell the story.
- Nikolenka is leaving in a week, his... paper... came out... he told me himself... Yes, I still wouldn’t cry... (she showed the piece of paper she was holding in her hand: it was poetry written by Nikolai) I still wouldn’t cry, but you didn’t you can... no one can understand... what kind of soul he has.
And she again began to cry because his soul was so good.
“You feel good... I don’t envy you... I love you, and Boris too,” she said, gathering a little strength, “he’s cute... there are no obstacles for you.” And Nikolai is my cousin... I need... the metropolitan himself... and that’s impossible. And then, if mamma... (Sonya considered the countess and called her mother), she will say that I am ruining Nikolai’s career, I have no heart, that I am ungrateful, but really... for God’s sake... (she crossed herself) I love her so much too , and all of you, only Vera... For what? What did I do to her? I am so grateful to you that I would be glad to sacrifice everything, but I have nothing...
Sonya could no longer speak and again hid her head in her hands and the feather bed. Natasha began to calm down, but her face showed that she understood the importance of her friend’s grief.
- Sonya! - she said suddenly, as if she had guessed the real reason for her cousin’s grief. – That’s right, Vera talked to you after dinner? Yes?
– Yes, Nikolai himself wrote these poems, and I copied others; She found them on my table and said that she would show them to mamma, and also said that I was ungrateful, that mamma would never allow him to marry me, and he would marry Julie. You see how he is with her all day... Natasha! For what?…
And again she cried more bitterly than before. Natasha lifted her up, hugged her and, smiling through her tears, began to calm her down.
- Sonya, don’t believe her, darling, don’t believe her. Do you remember how all three of us talked with Nikolenka in the sofa room; remember after dinner? After all, we decided everything how it would be. I don’t remember how, but you remember how everything was good and everything was possible. Uncle Shinshin’s brother is married to a cousin, and we are second cousins. And Boris said that this is very possible. You know, I told him everything. And he is so smart and so good,” Natasha said... “You, Sonya, don’t cry, my dear darling, Sonya.” - And she kissed her, laughing. - Faith is evil, God bless her! But everything will be fine, and she won’t tell mamma; Nikolenka will say it himself, and he didn’t even think about Julie.
And she kissed her on the head. Sonya stood up, and the kitten perked up, his eyes sparkled, and he seemed ready to wave his tail, jump on his soft paws and play with the ball again, as was proper for him.
- You think? Right? By God? – she said, quickly straightening her dress and hair.
- Really, by God! – Natasha answered, straightening a stray strand of coarse hair under her friend’s braid.
And they both laughed.
- Well, let's go sing "The Key."
- Let's go to.
“You know, this fat Pierre who was sitting opposite me is so funny!” – Natasha suddenly said, stopping. - I'm having a lot of fun!
And Natasha ran down the corridor.
Sonya, shaking off the fluff and hiding the poems in her bosom, to her neck with protruding chest bones, with light, cheerful steps, with a flushed face, ran after Natasha along the corridor to the sofa. At the request of the guests, the young people sang the “Key” quartet, which everyone really liked; then Nikolai sang the song he had learned again.
On a pleasant night, in the moonlight,
Imagine yourself happily
That there is still someone in the world,
Who thinks about you too!
As she, with her beautiful hand,
Walking along the golden harp,
With its passionate harmony
Calling to itself, calling you!
Another day or two, and heaven will come...
But ah! your friend won't live!
And he had not yet finished singing the last words when the young people in the hall were preparing to dance and the musicians in the choir began to knock their feet and cough.

Pierre was sitting in the living room, where Shinshin, as if with a visitor from abroad, began a political conversation with him that was boring for Pierre, to which others joined. When the music started playing, Natasha entered the living room and, going straight to Pierre, laughing and blushing, said:
- Mom told me to ask you to dance.
“I’m afraid of confusing the figures,” said Pierre, “but if you want to be my teacher...”
And he offered his thick hand, lowering it low, to the thin girl.
While the couples were settling down and the musicians were lining up, Pierre sat down with his little lady. Natasha was completely happy; she danced with a big one, with someone who came from abroad. She sat in front of everyone and talked to him like a big girl. She had a fan in her hand, which one young lady had given her to hold. And, assuming the most secular pose (God knows where and when she learned this), she, fanning herself and smiling through the fan, spoke to her gentleman.
- What is it, what is it? Look, look,” said the old countess, passing through the hall and pointing at Natasha.
Natasha blushed and laughed.
- Well, what about you, mom? Well, what kind of hunt are you looking for? What's surprising here?

In the middle of the third eco-session, the chairs in the living room, where the count and Marya Dmitrievna were playing, began to move, and most of the honored guests and old people, stretching after a long sitting and putting wallets and purses in their pockets, walked out the doors of the hall. Marya Dmitrievna walked ahead with the count - both with cheerful faces. The Count, with playful politeness, like a ballet, offered his rounded hand to Marya Dmitrievna. He straightened up, and his face lit up with a particularly brave, sly smile, and as soon as the last figure of the ecosaise was danced, he clapped his hands to the musicians and shouted to the choir, addressing the first violin:
- Semyon! Do you know Danila Kupor?
This was the count's favorite dance, danced by him in his youth. (Danilo Kupor was actually one figure of the Angles.)
“Look at dad,” Natasha shouted to the whole hall (completely forgetting that she was dancing with a big one), bending her curly head to her knees and bursting into her ringing laughter throughout the hall.
Indeed, everyone in the hall looked with a smile of joy at the cheerful old man, who, next to his dignified lady, Marya Dmitrievna, who was taller than him, rounded his arms, shaking them in time, straightened his shoulders, twisted his legs, slightly stamping his feet, and with a more and more blooming smile on his round face, he prepared the audience for what was to come. As soon as the cheerful, defiant sounds of Danila Kupor, similar to a cheerful chatterbox, were heard, all the doors of the hall were suddenly filled with men's faces on one side and women's smiling faces of servants on the other, who came out to look at the merry master.
- Father is ours! Eagle! – the nanny said loudly from one door.
The count danced well and knew it, but his lady did not know how and did not want to dance well. Her huge body stood upright with her powerful arms hanging down (she handed the reticule to the Countess); only her stern but beautiful face danced. What was expressed in the count's entire round figure, in Marya Dmitrievna was expressed only in an increasingly smiling face and a twitching nose. But if the count, becoming more and more dissatisfied, captivated the audience with the surprise of deft twists and light jumps of his soft legs, Marya Dmitrievna, with the slightest zeal in moving her shoulders or rounding her arms in turns and stamping, made no less an impression on merit, which everyone appreciated her obesity and ever-present severity. The dance became more and more animated. The counterparts could not attract attention to themselves for a minute and did not even try to do so. Everything was occupied by the count and Marya Dmitrievna. Natasha pulled the sleeves and dresses of all those present, who were already keeping their eyes on the dancers, and demanded that they look at daddy. During the intervals of the dance, the Count took a deep breath, waved and shouted to the musicians to play quickly. Quicker, quicker and quicker, faster and faster and faster, the count unfolded, now on tiptoes, now on heels, rushing around Marya Dmitrievna and, finally, turning his lady to her place, made the last step, raising his soft leg up from behind, bending his sweaty head with a smiling face and roundly waving his right hand amid the roar of applause and laughter, especially from Natasha. Both dancers stopped, panting heavily and wiping themselves with cambric handkerchiefs.
“This is how they danced in our time, ma chere,” said the count.
- Oh yes Danila Kupor! - Marya Dmitrievna said, letting out the spirit heavily and for a long time, rolling up her sleeves.

While the Rostovs were dancing the sixth anglaise in the hall to the sounds of tired musicians out of tune, and tired waiters and cooks were preparing dinner, the sixth blow struck Count Bezukhy. The doctors declared that there was no hope of recovery; the patient was given silent confession and communion; They were making preparations for the unction, and in the house there was the bustle and anxiety of expectation, common at such moments. Outside the house, behind the gates, undertakers crowded, hiding from the approaching carriages, awaiting a rich order for the count's funeral. The Commander-in-Chief of Moscow, who constantly sent adjutants to inquire about the Count’s position, that evening himself came to say goodbye to the famous Catherine’s nobleman, Count Bezukhim.
The magnificent reception room was full. Everyone stood up respectfully when the commander-in-chief, having been alone with the patient for about half an hour, came out of there, slightly returning the bows and trying as quickly as possible to pass by the gazes of doctors, clergy and relatives fixed on him. Prince Vasily, who had lost weight and turned pale during these days, saw off the commander-in-chief and quietly repeated something to him several times.
Having seen off the commander-in-chief, Prince Vasily sat down alone on a chair in the hall, crossing his legs high, resting his elbow on his knee and closing his eyes with his hand. After sitting like this for some time, he stood up and with unusually hasty steps, looking around with frightened eyes, walked through the long corridor to the back half of the house, to the eldest princess.

Wikipedia: Kim Philby full name Harold Adrian Russell Philby Harold Adrian Russell Philby; January 1, 1912, Ambala, India - May 11, 1988, Moscow) - one of the leaders of British intelligence, a communist, an agent of Soviet intelligence since 1933.
Born in India, in the family of a British official under the government of the Raj. His father, St. John Philby, worked for a long time in the English colonial administration in India, then studied oriental studies, and was a famous English Arabist: “Being an original person, he adopted the Muslim religion, took a Saudi slave girl as a second wife, and lived for a long time among the Bedouin tribes, was an adviser to King Ibn Saud." Kim Philby was the successor of one of the ancient families of England - in late XIX century, his paternal grandfather, Monty Philby, owned a coffee plantation in Ceylon, and his wife Quinty Duncan, Kim's grandmother, came from a well-known family of hereditary military men in England, one of whose representatives was Marshal Montgomery. His parents gave him the nickname Kim in honor of the hero of the novel of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. He was raised by his grandmother in England. Graduated with honors from Westminster School. In 1929 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he was a member of the socialist society. In 1933, for the purpose of the anti-fascist struggle, through the Committee for Assistance to Refugees from Fascism, which operated in Paris, he came to Vienna, the capital of Austria, where he participated in the work of the Vienna organization MOPR. Anticipating the imminent seizure of power in Austria by the fascists, he returns to England along with Austrian Communist Party activist Litzi Friedman, whom he marries in April 1934. At the beginning of June 1934, he was recruited by Soviet illegal intelligence officer Arnold Deitch.
Then he worked for the Times and was a special correspondent for this newspaper during the Spanish Civil War, while simultaneously carrying out assignments for Soviet intelligence. The last time he went to Spain was in May 1937, and at the beginning of August 1939 he returned to London.
Thanks to chance and the help of Guy Burgess, in 1940 he joined the SIS, and a year later he occupied the post of deputy chief of counterintelligence there. In 1944 he became head of the 9th Department of SIS, which dealt with Soviet and communist activities in Great Britain. During the war alone, he transferred 914 documents to Moscow. From 1947 to 1949 he headed the residency in Istanbul, from 1949 to 1951 - the liaison mission in Washington, where he established contacts with the leaders of the CIA and FBI and coordinated joint actions of the United States and Great Britain to combat the communist threat.
In 1951, the first two members of the Cambridge Five were exposed: Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess. Their old friend Philby warns them of the danger, but he himself falls under suspicion: in November 1952 he is interrogated by the British counterintelligence MI5, but is released due to lack of evidence. Philby remains in limbo until 1955, when he retires.
However, already in 1956 he was again accepted into Her Majesty's secret service, this time in MI6. Under the cover of a correspondent for The Observer newspaper and The Economist magazine, he goes to Beirut.
On January 23, 1963, Philby was illegally transported to the USSR, where for the rest of his life he lived in Moscow on a personal pension. Occasionally he was involved in consultations. He married an employee of the research institute, Rufina Pukhova.
He was buried at the Old Kuntsevo Cemetery.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the First Class of the Patriotic War, the Friendship of Peoples and medals, as well as the badge “Honorary State Security Officer.”