Comrade J.
Pete Earley
Penguin Group, 2008.
ISBN-13: 9780399154393
Sergey Tretyakov hopes that nothing threatens his life. "If a driver runs over me, everybody will know it was Moscow," said to Le Monde the former Russian secret agent who has crossed to the ‘enemy’. Aged 51, the renegade who describes himself as "the real James Bond", is enjoying a golden retirement in an American city that he doesn’t want to name. He lives in a comfortable house in a neighbourhood where his neighbours play golf and invite him to barbecues at times. His wife, Elena, drives a Porsche, and his daughter, Ksenia, has graduated from a prestigious Ivy League university. The Tretyakov family are experiencing their American dream at the expense of the CIA.
The former KGB colonel is full of the fervour of a new convert. "I am not a traitor, I am an American patriot", he says. From April 1995 to October 2000 Sergey Tretyakov occupied the post of the Russian representatives’ press-attaché at the UN in New York as an undercover secret agent for Moscow. For over two years he had also informed the FBI and the CIA of the less worthy intrigues of Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, delivering around 5000 "top secret" telegrams and more than 100 classified reports. Regarded as one of the best recruits in the recent history of American counter-espionage, he is also the best-paid Russian renegade thus far.
Tretyakov showed the utmost impudence to Russia’s external intelligence service (SVR – an outgrowth of KGB) by agreeing to give an interview to The Washington Post’s former journalist Pete Earley. The result is a best-selling book (Comrade J, released on January 24) which demystifies the world of espionage. "Comrade John" (his code name) did not strip off his soul for the sake of money – he even didn’t ask for them – nor for glory - he abdicated any editorial control. "Anyone who turns his back on his homeland feels the need to justify it", suggests Pete Earley. He said he wanted to "wake up America" on the "Russian threat". Following the publication of the book in late January, the SVR has seen fit to recall that "treason is a crime punishable by law."
When he appeared at Manhattan the first time in April, 1995, Sergey Tretyakov was a completely different man: a promising conscientious spy trained in the Soviet school. He took his quarter in the SVR’s "submarine", the 8
th
floor of the Russian representatives at the UN, above the ‘ordinary’ diplomats. One could enter the premises by using a secret mechanism that involved coins or wedding rings. The walls were lined with iron plates and a vibrant grid to prevent eavesdropping. The place had no windows, isolated from the rest of the building by suspension device. To call their "sources", SVR agents used public pay-phones at Bloomingdale's store, on 59
th
Street.
The end of the Cold War had not changed Russian priorities. "The main targets were the same United States, NATO and China," explains the secret agent. To collect intelligence, all means are allowed: manipulation, blackmail, and, often, the exploitation of anti-US sentiment among foreign diplomats, including those from Washington-friendly countries. Some were bought for pennies. "They represented their own countries and risked being executed as spies for a few hundred dollar gold trinkets" purchased in a supermarket, smirks the spy in the book. Journalists were also a target. "If a Russian diplomat invites you to a five-star hotel and pays for your stay without asking for the bill, he is an SVR officer," warns Tretyakov. In his time, a Japanese reporter, code-named "Samurai", had been recruited in this way.
It is impossible to crosscheck many of his assertions. But, he says, Eldar Kouliev, ambassador of Azerbaijan to the United Nations in 1994, was in fact an SVR agent. He was one of numerous spies recruited from among university students and later embedded in their own countries’ diplomatic corpses. Rashid Alimov (code-named Emir), the Ambassador of Tajikistan, was allegedly recruited with the promise of an apartment and a professorship in Moscow. In order to re-attract Alisher Vohidov, the Ambassador of Uzbekistan, to espionage the SVR had to remind him about his past as a KGB informant.
One of the biggest successes of the SVR, according to Tretyakov, was its agent Alexander Kramar’s infiltration to the heart of the UN "Oil for Food" program, which was supposed to mitigate the effects of the sanctions on the Iraqi people. Starting from July 1999 Kramar was the only person in charge of the Iraqi crude oil price, and through him some Russians made a profit of 35 cents per barrel from quotas allocated by Saddam Hussein. Pete Earley estimates its total at $500 million. Kramar "helped oligarchs around President Yeltsin to steal," sais Tretyakov, who at the time judged the episode as a disgrace for Russia.
But espionage also has its failures. Having made an appointment with Henry Kissinger through his consulting firm, a fake Russian diplomat had to cancel it expeditiously when he realized that the interview with the former secretary of state costs about $100 a minute.
When and how Sergei started to spy for the FBI and the CIA? He keeps quiet about this bit. He only says: "My family and I concluded that it was immoral to serve our government." Sergey insists that he had "never asked for a penny ". At that time, he liked New York and admired series like "Seinfeld" or "Friends". According to Pete Earley, his daughter was the reason, since he could not imagine how her life would be in the new Russia. "Fear in that context is the greatest enemy", remembering the past says Sergey. Especially knowing that, if discovered, he will be "sent 6 feet underground."
On 11 October 2000 Sergei Tretyakov got up and decided that "the day has come" to end his double life. Accompanied by his wife, his daughter and her kitten Matilda, he loaded a few suitcases in the trunk of his car in the basement of a building located in Riverdale, the Bronx, where the Russian diplomats are based. For the last time, he showed his ID card to the security guard, waited a bit until the gate closed behind him according to the procedure – and started a new life. No regrets? "I have no nostalgia, because my country no longer exists," he says firmly today.
Editor's Note: tajikistanweb.com tried to crosscheck the allegation with Rashid Alimov (currently Tajikistan's Ambassador to China), but to no avail. The Embassy did not answer the phone on 12 and 13 of March.
