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.I had no ap-pointment; his secretary asked me who I was.I replied that I had justretired as a major general from the KGB and wanted to see Afanasiev.She ushered me into his room.I shook hands with the erudite,handsome person in front of me and showed him my KGB identifica-tion papers. I want to help the democratic movement, I said. I am sure thatmy knowledge and experience will be useful.You can use me in anycapacity.I ll be with you.Afanasiev seemed not the least bit surprised. I always knew people like you would come to us, he said with asmile.0465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 385CHAPT E R 9RebirthON THE AFTERNOON OF JUNE 16, 1990, I WENT PUBLIC WITH MY FIGHTagainst the KGB.The place was the cavernous October Cinema on Moscow s KalininProspect, and the occasion was the inaugural gathering of one of thecountry s newest and most progressive political organizations, theDemocratic Platform of the Communist Party.More than fifteenhundred people, including many of the Soviet Union s most promi-nent liberal politicians, streamed into the hall, and as they took theirseats there was a feeling of euphoria in the air.By the middle of 1990,Gorbachev s popularity was slipping and the luster of perestroika andglasnost was starting to fade.But politically, it was a superchargedtime in the Soviet Union: reformers were gathering strength andbuilding the political parties that were challenging the old order.It isironic that the Democratic Platform still associated itself with theCommunist Party.As the months passed, even our members wouldbegin to work for the destruction of the Party itself; but in June 1990,the old Communist structures still held sway and we deluded our-selves into thinking the Party could actually be revived.When I walked into the October Cinema, I was a virtual unknown,both inside the Soviet Union and around the world.But by the time I3850465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 386386 SPYMASTERleft several hours later, my days of living in obscurity would be over.June 16, 1990, was the day I crossed the Rubicon.Afterward nothingwould be the same.I settled into the twentieth row of the theater, hoping no one fromthe KGB would be there who recognized me.After approaching YuriAfanasiev on the day of my retirement in February, I had quietlystarted working with him and other reformers.I had written a lengthyarticle on the KGB for the crusading magazine Ogonyok, setting forthmy views on how to reform the agency.Although glasnost had cometo the USSR, censorship still existed.My close friend AlexanderYakovlev saw the piece I submitted to Ogonyok s editor, Vitaly Ko-rotich, and strongly advised Korotich not to publish it.Gorbachev,Yakovlev argued, had enough problems without launching a full-scaleassault on the KGB.So, much to my disappointment, the article wasscrapped, and I busied myself establishing links with the country sdemocratic forces.I had gotten wind of the upcoming Democratic Platform confer-ence and told some of my friends that I would like to address thegathering.I wanted my thoughts on dismantling the KGB to reach thepublic.Late one night in early June, the phone rang.The caller wasIgor Chubais, one of the leaders of Democratic Platform, and he saidhe wanted to meet me.It was after eleven, but I suggested thatChubais (whose brother would later lead Boris Yeltsin s drive to priva-tize Russian industry) come over to my place.He was skittish, how-ever, apparently concerned that my apartment was bugged.(Hisconcern was well founded.There is no doubt that as my anti-KGBcampaign gathered strength, both my phone and my apartment werebugged.The old ladies who stood watch in our building later de-scribed how strange men with government papers gained entry to ourapartment when we weren t home, claiming our phone lines werefaulty.They obviously were planting listening devices.When I let slipword of an upcoming meeting or rendezvous on the phone or in myapartment, KGB surveillance teams often showed up.) Chubais sug-gested we meet shortly after midnight in front of a nearby subway sta-0465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 387REBI RTH 387tion.I arrived and stood there under an umbrella in the warm springrain.The lights of passing cars illuminated the occasional pedestriansscurrying for shelter.At the appointed time, a boxy Zhiguli pulled up,and a bearded man stepped out and approached me.Shaking myhand, he introduced himself as Igor Chubais, and for the next hourwe walked the deserted residential streets in the soft rain.Chubais clearly was skeptical about why such a high-ranking KGBofficer would want to join the democratic movement and speak at theupcoming convention.I briefly told him about my career in the KGB,explained my motives for wanting to address Democratic Platform,and outlined the substance of my talk on what needed to be done tobreak the awesome power of the KGB.By the end of our walk, heseemed convinced I was genuine.He said I could speak at the confer-ence, though we both agreed that no one was to know of my speech inadvance, otherwise the KGB might try to prevent me from appearingon the grounds that I was divulging state secrets.As I sat in the October Theater with people streaming in all aroundme, I was nervous and excited.The crowd slowly quieted down, andthe procession of speakers (we Russians love a good political speech)began.After the third orator, someone from Democratic Platformtook the microphone to announce that a former KGB general wasnow going to address the group about reforming the secret policeagency.The audience went wild.They had no idea who I was, but theystood up and applauded thunderously, searching the room for thisconvert from the KGB.No high-ranking KGB officer had ever stayedin the country and taken on the agency, and the thought that some-one of my stature and experience was coming over to the democraticside was enough to send the audience into rapture.Somehow I mademy way to the stage, and when I looked out at the crowd still ontheir feet, cheering and applauding my heart leapt.It was one of themost thrilling moments of my life.Finally I was free, and assaultingthe KGB head-on.The audience fell silent.Struggling to steady my voice, I told the gath-ering, Some people may think that I have jumped on the democratic0465014453-Kalugin.qxd 11/24/08 10:25 AM Page 388388 SPYMASTERbandwagon with evil intentions.I understand that there may be sus-picions in your minds, but let me tell you that you re wrong.I amfrom the KGB.I worked in that organization for more than thirtyyears, and I want to tell all of you how the KGB works against the bestinterests of democratic forces in this country.There was utter silence in the hall as I talked about myself and ex-plained why the KGB must be radically reformed and the number ofagents drastically reduced: We cannot begin a serious restructuring of society until we ridourselves of the restraints imposed by an organization which has pen-etrated every sphere of our lives, which interferes with all aspects ofstate life, political life, the economy, science, arts, religion, even sports.Today, just as ten or twenty years ago, the hand of the KGB is every-where.And any talk of perestroika without reforming the KGB isnothing but a lie.All the much-ballyhooed changes in the KGB arecosmetic, a disguise on the ugly face of the Stalin-Brezhnev era.Infact, all the elements of the old dictatorship are still in place
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