Part Two
Before being sent to the USSR on espionage missions, he graduated from an American intelligence school for seven months in West Germany. It trained agents-radio operators, and therefore the main subject at the school was radio communications, which he did every day until 6 o'clock. Classes on the study of radio and parachuting took place in the city of Kaufbeuren. The agent trainees also were constantly in the town of Bad Worishofen, where they studied:
· conspiracy,
· the structure of aviation and tank units of the USSR,
· photography,
· topography, and
· sabotage.
· how to forge seals and signatures on documents, which introduced us to Soviet documentation, radar, the Navy, the category of agents, etc.
They were forced to systematically listen to Voice of America programs in which vicious slander against the Soviet Union was stated and to read anti-Soviet newspapers published by various white émigré organizations in West Germany. In a word, they were presented with all kinds of slander against Soviet reality, while the American way of life was praised in every possible way.
At the same time, to be aware of the events taking place in the Soviet Union and freely navigate the territory of the USSR, they were allowed to read Soviet newspapers daily and listen to radio broadcasts. About a month before graduation, they practiced a cover story under which they were supposed to act when performing espionage missions.
The teaching staff of the reconnaissance school, with the exception of one instructor, consisted of Americans who carefully conspired their real names, replacing them with fictitious, moreover Russian, names.
The instructor of the intelligence school was under the nickname "Vsevolod", posing as a former Soviet intelligence officer. The head of the school was an American major named "Andrey ."The radio business was conducted by the American "Jan." An American intelligence officer taught parachuting with the rank of captain. His assistant was a lieutenant, and he also conducted training sessions with us on sabotage. Under the name "Alexey," an American lieutenant was assigned to the agents as an observer.
Simultaneously with him, five more spies were trained at the American intelligence school, who was known to him only by nicknames: "Peter," "Boris," "George," "Leonid," and "Ivan. He showed about the external signs and the personality of these agents at the previous interrogations. He didn't know any other information about them. He gave correct testimony on this issue during the investigation. Three American agents, nicknamed "George," "Boris," and "Peter," dropped out of school in March 1951, but he didn’t know where they went or what happened to them.
The Americans did everything they could to cover up their actions related to the infiltration of spies into the territory of the USSR. For example, the three agents left Bad Worishofen in a passenger car in an unknown direction and arrived in a city, which, as they later learned, was located about 40 kilometers from Frankfurt am Main (presumable Wiesbaden). Before reaching the airfield, they were dressed in American military-style working uniforms, which they removed only in the plane that was in the hangar. At 7 pm on May 1, 1952, the aircraft took off. It flew through Poland at a speed of about 300 kilometers per hour. At 02:30, they were parachuted.
In clarifying the testimony he had given earlier, he admitted that, at the direction of American intelligence, he had to collect:
· various espionage information about the deployment of military units of the Soviet Army;
· on the political mood and economic situation of the population; and
· acquire Soviet documents, including passports, military tickets, travel, and vacation certificates.
The Americans also attached importance to collecting information that made it possible to better know Soviet reality. They, for example, were interested in the regime on railway transport, the fare on the train, tram, bus, taxi and other modes of transportation; prices for food and manufactured goods, the characteristics of a particular city, etc. The collection of this kind of information was also part of his espionage duties.
Along with this, on the instructions of the Americans, he had to find two or three people with anti-Soviet views or a criminal record and persuade them to flee abroad. These are the tasks of American intelligence that he must complete during his three-month stay on the territory of the Soviet Union.
Although the Americans trained us not only as radio operators but also as demolition agents and conducted practical exercises with us on committing various kinds of sabotage, including blowing up bridges, railway tracks, and other objects, however, he did not do any sabotage or terrorist acts.
He did not know about the nature of the assignments received by the agents "Leonid" and "Ivan."
The Americans supplied him with
· a submachine gun,
· two pistols,
· a radio transmitter,
· a camera,
· a pistol in the form of a pen, a special compound for masking traces from service dogs,
· Soviet money of 34,000 rubles and various kinds of food concentrates and medicines.
· In addition, he was given two sets of fictitious documents in the name of Nikolai Kuzmich PLATONOV and one KOPYTOV for the electric welder of the Krasny Oktyabr artel from the mountains. Kamenka, Kirovograd region
On May 3, he radioed the American radio center and reported a safe landing. Since he had to carry out the espionage work himself, on the same day in the evening, he left the agents "Leonid" and "Ivan," burying the radio transmitter and other equipment not far from the landing site.
Being at the station in the mountains of Odessa, on May 6, 1952, he met an unknown person who turned out to be (FNU) Arestov, according to his passport. He said that he had recently been released from the forced labor camp where he was serving his sentence. He was not working anywhere and was in a difficult financial situation. Taking advantage of the favorable condition, Kurochkin suggested to Arestov that he sell his passport. At first, he hesitated, then agreed. Kurochkin paid him 200 rubles for the passport. He bought another passport for 350 rubles around May 11 in a train car going to Odessa.
He stole the third passport: in Kharkov in the city market, he met a certain Masliy, then invited him to a tea room, got him drunk, then put him in a taxi car and, using Masliy's strong intoxication, stole his passport from his pocket, and left him on one of the streets city and fled.
He did not let any of these people know about his criminal plans and had no intentions to use them in espionage work.
He met some relatives: his wife, her mother, and others. Kurochkin told them that while serving in the Soviet occupation forces in Austria, He fled the army to the West, where he had contacted the Americans, who transferred him by plane with espionage missions to the Soviet Union.
He managed to persuade one KLIMOV, whom he met at the Martsevo station, Rostov Region, to cross the border. Believing him to be a vagabond, he invited him to travel with him, promising that he could supply him with money and clothes. KLIMOV agreed and became my companion.
From conversations with him, it turned out that he did not work anywhere and was engaged in theft. This allowed Kurochkin to establish a trusting relationship with him, after which he directly suggested that Klimov flee abroad. Klimov accepted my proposal without hesitation. Kurochkin believed that Klimov intended to go overseas with him, but his calculations were not justified. On May 26, 1952, while in the forest, Kurochkin was watching the area to outline his further path to the border, at that time, Klimov hit him on the head with a stone and disappeared; the next day Kurochkin was detained.
He did not hide the fact that, on the instructions of the Americans, a number of Soviet citizens should be persuaded to go abroad illegally. He did not set such a goal. His relatives only helped him to hide for two days and did not give him up to the Soviet authorities, which is why he opened up to them as an American spy.
Despite the fact that he was equipped with a powerful radio to communicate with the Americans, however, his attempt to establish contact with them by radio on May 17, 1952, due to the lack of audibility, was not successful. Subsequently, he did not make any attempts to contact by radio. Kurochkin tried to send two radiograms. One of which indicated that he had lost the password for communicating with the Americans in Turkey, in connection with which he asked to be told a different password. He indicated that he had acquired three Soviet passports in the same radiogram. The content of the second radiogram was reduced to a description of one of the passports.
If he managed to exfiltrate, then in the future, according to the plans of the Americans, he would be transferred a second time to the Soviet Union. Based on this, he was asked to bury the radio station and other equipment and to illegally sneak into Turkey himself. For this purpose, He was supplied by American intelligence with a topographic map on which the route of crossing the Soviet-Turkish border was indicated. Once in Turkey, he had to address the Turks in their language. Kurochkin remembered the three necessary words and asked them to take to Erzerum, to the head of counterintelligence, who would put him in touch with the American intelligence officers using a predetermined password. Parts of a comb and a photo card served as his password. Other parts of these objects are in Erzurum. If, when added together, they coincide along the lines, it will be apparent to the Americans who he was and for what purpose he came. In addition, as the Americans stated, there was my photograph in Erzurum.
The above summary is taken from his interrogation report. On June 29, 1952, the other two parachutists were arrested in Rostov-on-Don. All three were intensely interrogated, refused to play in any radio games, were tried, convicted, and executed as American spies.
There was no intelligence developed and the long hours of training were naught.
