Deja vu. Exchange of prisoners

In the program of Alexander Podrabinek - Vladimir Bukovsky and Owen Matthew

Alexander Podrabinek: The history of mankind is rich in examples when people were considered legal goods. In the days of slave trade and serfdom they were sold, bought, changed.

Today, the sale of people is criminal. The law and public opinion condemn this practice. But sometimes transactions are made not only by criminals, not only secretly from the law.

People are changed to people from the knowledge of states, with international assistance and in front of the whole world. And such exchanges are usually happy. Especially the subjects of transactions.

Ukrainian military personnel Nadezhda Savchenko, sentenced by the Russian court of falsified accusations to 22 years in prison, may be exchanged for other prisoners. It is not yet clear what exactly.

Perhaps the two special forces of the GRU, who were engaged in terrorist activities in Ukraine. Perhaps on the underground weapons of weapons Viktor Buta or a carrier of wholesale parties of drugs Konstantin Yaroshenko sitting in American prisons.

In any case, the exchange is likely to take place. Too great in the entire civilized world, sympathy for Nadezhda Savchenko. Too many political forces declared its interest in its liberation.

People are changed to people from the knowledge of states, with international assistance and in front of the whole world

The exchange of prisoners between countries is not regulated by international law. Yes, and national laws on this subject, it seems, does not exist anywhere. In any case, in the Soviet Union and present -day Russia there were no such laws.

In the post -war period, one of the most famous international exchanges of prisoners was the exchange in 1962 of the Soviet spy William Fisher on the American military pilot Francis Powers . The exchange occurred on the Glinic bridge in West Berlin.

Two years later, on the same bridge of another Soviet spy, the young Konon was exchanged for the English spy of Greville Winn. Says Radio correspondent Freedom Andrei Korolev .

Andrey Korolev: June 21, 1957, New York. In the Brooklyn Hotel "Latam" the residence of Soviet intelligence was arrested. Only after 14 years, his daughter will be in order to be knocked out by his tombstone - William Genrichovich Fisher, but for now he is known to the FBI agents as Rudolf Abel. Abel's case turned out to be a complete secret. The coden name "The case of Paul Nickel", it began to unwind since 1953. A certain photo artist Goldfus helped the boy, the pedagogical center of the newspapers, exchange the dollar, among the coins there was a nickel five -cent -member, a cache that stored a microfill and a fragment of paper with incomprehensible numbers. The next day, the contents of the bookmark fell into the hands of the police, and then the FBI. But special agents were able to find out only that the numbers were printed on Soviet -made typewriter and residents of Moscow use a similar cipher. For several years, the case was frozen, and only the betrayal of the radio operator of illegal intelligence brought the FBI employees to the trail of Abel. Says intelligence historian Nikolai Dolgopolov .

Very serious accusations were brought Fisher - this is the extraction of other people's secrets, in particular atomic

“Fisher was charged with serious accusations: obtaining other people's secrets. In particular, the extraction of atomic secrets, ”recalls intelligence historian Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Andrey Korolev: Early morning on May 1, 1960 in the Sverdlovsk area, the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down, which was piloted by 31-year-old Francis Garry Pauers. The investigation was short -lived, and soon the American pilot appeared in court. He did not know that negotiations were underway at the highest level on his exchange for the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. On February 10, 1962, he will stand on a deserted bridge connecting Potsdam and West Berlin. The Glmon bridge will become a place for another exchange.

At the very end of 1960, the English Queen Elizabeth presented the Knight's Order for the contribution to the development of business to the millionaire Gordon Lonsdeil. A week later, Sir Lonsdale was arrested for espionage in favor of the Soviets. The English counterintelligence managed to find out that a successful businessman was interested not only in millions, but also by military secrets.

“Conan young, he is Sir Gordon Lonsdale, aka Ben, is a pleasant, intelligent person who had secretes in Portland. He received 25 years and, honestly after serving for several years, was exchanged for amateur Kommersant Winn , ”says Nikolai Dolgopolov.

Andrei Korolev: Grevill Vinn in 1960 came into the view of Colonel GRU Oleg Penkovsky, who offered his services to British intelligence. After signing the recruiting act, Penkovsky at Khitrovo Airport handed Vinna two packages with secret information. Only two years later he was exposed and betrayed his connected. The Hungarian special services arrested Winn in Budapest and sent to Moscow. In the case of Lonsdeil, a personnel intelligence officer (Colonel Konon Young), betrayal was also the reason for the failure. “Mole” was an employee of the Polish special services Mikhail Golenevsky.

The difference between these two cases is only that in the young house, irrefutable evidence was discovered - radio transmitters, shipper -point readers. Having taken all the blame on himself, the young man could persuade the British court to milder punishment. But the young man, like Fisher-Agel, did not have to sit out the term. A few years later, spent in a British prison, he will also be on the famous Ginnik bridge in West Berlin.

Decisions on the exchange of prisoners - purely political

Alexander Podrabinek: Decisions on the exchange of prisoners are purely political. The courts that were pronouncing the verdict do not participate in such cases. Sometimes this leads to funny results.

The Soviet political prisoner Vladimir Bukovsky , exchanged in 1976 at the Secretary General of the Chilean Communist Party of Luis Corvan, took the KGB special group from the Vladimir prison. He was dressed in civilian clothes, put on a plane and taken to Zurich. No documents on the release or cancellation of the sentence were given to him. And there were no such documents. The Soviet government belonged to the right ... condescending. The verdict continued to act.

Says Vladimir Bukovsky .

Vladimir Bukovsky: My prison term was not canceled, he remained with me. As I said on the plane: "What happens - you arrange an escape to me? The deadline is not finished, not canceled" ...

Alexander Podrabinek: From the point of view of the law, the KGB officers arranged an escape from Bukovsky from prison. Yes, not just from prison, but abroad. How was the exchange was legally framed?

I said on an airplane: "What happens - do you arrange an escape to me? The deadline is not completed, not canceled"

Vladimir Bukovsky: He was not legally formalized. There was a resolution of the Politburo, it was called "on measures to liberate comrade Luis Corvalan." Legally, this could not be done in any way, they published a secret decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council on the expulsion of me abroad. This in itself is illegal, the law did not provide for expulsion of its citizens abroad. But they did not give a damn.

Alexander Podrabinek: Bukovsky was the first exchanged dissident in the Soviet Union, but not the last. Three years later, in April 1979, five Soviet political prisoners exchanged two Soviet spies arrested in the United States.

On May 20, 1978, in the American state of New Jersey, when a container with secret materials, the attache of the Soviet representative office at the UN Vladimir Zinyakin was detained, he is also an officer of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR.

On the same day, the FBI agents arrested two more Soviet spies - Waldik Enger and Rudolf Chernyaev, who were in the zone of the secret operation to cover Zinyakin. These two were also employees of the UN Secretariat, but, unlike the first, did not have diplomatic immunity. Therefore, Zinyakin was released, and Engrar and Chernyaev were arrested. They spent a month in an American prison, then they were released on bail, and they lived on the territory of the Soviet representative office at the UN.

The American court sentenced each of them to 50 years in prison. But they no longer returned to prison, remaining before the exchange in the Soviet diplomatic mission.

The fate of five dissidents were much more dramatic. Alexander Ginzburg was sitting by that time for the third time. In 1977, he was arrested and sentenced to eight years of a special regime camp.

Bukovsky was the first exchanged dissident in the Soviet Union, but not the last

Unlike Soviet spies, Ginzburg did not steal state secrets, did not hide behind false positions or diplomatic immunity. He openly coordinated the distribution of humanitarian assistance to political prisoners in his country and defended human rights. In the Soviet Union, this was called "anti -Soviet agitation and propaganda."

Valentin Moroz, a Ukrainian historian and writer, was twice convicted of anti -Soviet activities. By the time of exchange, he was sitting according to the last sentence for the ninth year.

George Vince - Baptist, sat for his faith for a second term. The last sentence is ten years of imprisonment.

Jews Mark Dymshitz and Eduard Kuznetsov were sentenced in 1970 to the death penalty for preparing for the hijacking of the aircraft in Sweden. Eduard Kuznetsov by that time had already served a seven -year term for anti -Soviet activities.

For a long time they tried to leave for Israel with legal ways, but received rejection of the Soviet authorities. Mark Dymshits, a former military pilot, was supposed to pilot a stolen plane.

The hijacking did not take place-the entire group of 11 people was arrested before the start of any criminal actions. The cassation court replaced Kuznetsov and Dymesha with 15 years in prison for everyone.

What lay on the scales of exchange? On the one hand, full of hardships and deprivations of the fate of five middle -aged people. Ten unfair political sentences. They have served a prison term by all - in total 52 years.

On the other hand, two thieves' Soviet spy, who spent a month in a comfortable American prison.

Business people of the twentieth century put the trafficking prisoners on stream

Business people of the twentieth century put the trafficking prisoners on stream. The initiators of this business were the East German Communists and the Stasi - the State Security of the GDR. They not only changed their political prisoners on their own spies caught, but also sold them to Germany.

The main specialist in this case was the East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel. He was even nicknamed for this "Spy Trader" - "Bena of Spies." He was an intermediary in the exchange of Fischer-Abel for the pilot Powers.

In 1981, Vogel organized the exchange of agent Gunther Guillaume with eight western spies. This was, of course, by begging from the GDR - to give eight strangers for one spy. Each of them could be separately and profitably sell. But I had to go to waste - it was too scandalous.

Guillaume agent waded into confidence in the West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and became his personal adviser. When the spy failed, Brandt was forced to resign. The Communists were uncomfortable to mel, pulling out such a scandalous employee to their homeland.

But in other affairs, they did not miss their benefits. Wolfgang Vogel was to intermediaries in the exchange of about one and a half hundred spies. In addition, he participated on the sale of more than 33 thousand political prisoners, as well as ordinary East German citizens who dreamed of free from the socialist camp.

For leaving the country it was necessary to pay a lot of money. People sold all their property, real estate, cars, asked for help from relatives and friends in West Germany.

The Russian government paid for political prisoners. This stimulated new arrests and political repression in the GDR.

Either the Western spies were sent to the Soviet Union, or the KGB did not skillfully catch them, but the Soviet side often offered civilians - foreigners arrested on non -inflammatory charges, and ordinary Soviet citizens too.

In 1969, the Soviet government liberated the English student Gerald Brook, who brought prohibited literature into the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to five years of camps and was serving his term.

The exchange was clearly unequal: two seasoned spies for an unknown student who carried anti -Soviet literature into the Soviet Union

In exchange for Brook, England freed two Soviet spies - Maurice and Leontina Croger. It was a married couple. For a long time they worked in Soviet intelligence, obtaining atomic secrets and other valuable information. In recent years of their espionage activity, they delivered data to Moscow on the device of atomic submarines and on super -secret British military facilities.

The exchange was clearly unequal: two seasoned spies for an unknown student who carried anti -Soviet literature into the Soviet Union. Moscow was generous and added to Breuk three Soviet citizens from divided families - two women and one man.

They were released from the country, and they were able to reunite with their British beloved. The man released abroad was Oleg Prokofiev, the son of the famous Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.

Another exchanged was the Soviet citizen Lyudmila Bibikov, the bride of the Englishman Mervin Matthewz. The American journalist Owen Matthews says about their parents, reunited thanks to this exchange.

Owen Matthew

Owen Matthew: The story of my parents is one of the strange novels of the Cold War. My father worked as a scientist in Moscow, in 1963 he met a young librarian-my mother, who worked in the library of Marxism-Leninism. They wanted to get married. The KGB made my father an offer, which, as it seemed to them, he could not refuse: cooperate with us, and you can marry your woman. He refused them that it was pretty bold, and very quickly turned out to be a person Non Grata .

Young people, separated by the most powerful political forces at that time, decided that they would be able to rebel, convince my mother to release my mother

Then it turned out to be even more impudent: these are young people, separated by the most powerful political forces at that time, decided that they could rebel, convince my mother to release. Father for six years led a rapid campaign in the press, wrote letters to the Soviet leadership, in every possible way campaigned through the press so that his mother would be released. Ultimately, this brought to the fact that in 1955 the exchanged captives occurred.

Alexander Podrabinek: Probably in 1986, the Soviet authorities have already made a fundamental decision in one way or another to release political prisoners. They considered it stupid to miss the last opportunity to get their spies in exchange for the Politicals sitting so far.

On February 11, 1986, in exchange for spies of the Warsaw Pact countries, the Soviet dissident Anatoly Scharansky was liberated. In 1978, he was sentenced "for treason and anti -Soviet activities" to 13 years in prison.

By the time of the exchange, Scharansky was in prison for nine years. Together with him, two citizens of Germany and one citizen of Czechoslovakia were released.

The West, in exchange, gave the Czechoslovak agents to Karel Kyoher and Khan Köher, the Soviet spy Yevgeny Zemlyakov, the Polish intelligence officer Hedgehog Kachmarek and the intelligence officer from the GDR Detlef Sharpenort, arrested in the United States.

The exchange took place through the mediation of the same East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel all on the same famous Glinic bridge. In an interview, Anatoly Scharansky recalls the circumstances of the exchange:

“For the first time in the entire term, they gave me civilian clothes that they bought it themselves. Everything was huge for me, I literally drowned in trousers, the jacket dangled, nothing was holding on.“ Though give me a belt, ”he asked, but in prison it was strictly forbidden. They brought, in a word, some kind of bachevka, somehow I twisted it.

They often ask me: “What was your first thought at large?”, And I always honestly answer: “How not to lose trousers”

The American ambassador to Germany took me by the arm, and with him we slowly went across the bridge. There was still a representative of the Foreign Ministry with us. Two healthy men, and I am in the middle ... I see that the other side is full of journalists. "Where is the border?" - I ask my guards. "Do you see a fat line on the bridge? This is it." "How great!" - I do not hide glee, I jump through it in ... freedom, and at that moment the twine is torn in my trousers.

In the last second, I literally pick up trousers and talk with journalists, holding them. They often ask me: "What was your first thought at large?", And I always honestly answer: "How not to lose trousers."

Alexander Podrabinek: On August 23, 1986, the United States authorities accused of espionage not possessing the diplomatic immunity of an employee of the USSR representative office at the UN Gennady Zakharov.

In response to this, in Moscow, a week later they arrested the head of the Moscow Corcourt of the journal US News and World Report to Nicholas Daniloff. He was also charged with espionage. So to speak, a symmetrical answer.

Already on September 28 of the same year, an exchange took place. Daniloff received permission to leave the USSR, and Zakharov was deported from the United States.

However, these two people were not limited. Everyone understood that Daniloff was not a spy, but a hostage, so he was not enough for Colonel Zakharov.

Меняли политзаключенных на своих шпионов не только страны Варшавского договора

Через неделю в рамках этого обмена в Советском Союзе был освобожден Юрий Орлов – основатель и первый руководитель Московской Хельсинкской группы. К тому времени он находился в ссылке в Якутии после семи лет лагерей за антисоветскую деятельность.

Формально это был не обмен, а более или менее одновременное освобождение заключенных. Орлова привезли из ссылки в Москву и посадили на самолет до Нью-Йорка.

В тот же день из Советского Союза отпустили в Израиль активиста еврейского движения за выезд Беньямина Богомольного, много лет добивавшегося разрешения покинуть страну.

Меняли политзаключенных на своих шпионов не только страны Варшавского договора. Американец Алан Гросс привозил на Кубу компьютеры и другую электронику для пользования интернетом. За это в 2009 году его на Кубе арестовали по обвинению в шпионаже и приговорили к 15 годам тюрьмы.

Через пять лет Гросса обменяли на попавшихся в США кубинских шпионов Рамона Лабаньино, Герардо Эрнандеса и Антонио Герреро. Эти трое кубинцев были членами так называемой кубинской пятерки – разведывательной группы, внедрившейся в кубинские эмигрантские организации во Флориде.

В 1998 году их обвинили в шпионаже и соучастии в убийстве. При их информационном содействии в феврале 1996 года кубинские ВВС сбили в международном воздушном пространстве над Мексиканским заливом два американских гражданских самолета "Сессна". Погибли четыре человека из американской волонтерской организации "Братство спасения". Эти волонтеры вылетали на легких самолетах в Мексиканский залив, чтобы спасать в нейтральных водах терпящих бедствие кубинских беженцев.

Обмены заключенными широко практикуются в бесконечном арабо-израильском конфликте

Двух из пяти кубинских шпионов приговорили к длительным срокам лишения свободы, троих – к пожизненному заключению. Первых двух через 15 лет освободили досрочно, а трех остальных – 17 декабря 2014 года, в обмен на Алана Гросса.

Обмены заключенными широко практикуются в бесконечном арабо-израильском конфликте. Правда, соотношения обменянных здесь совсем другие.

В 1985 году правительство Израиля договорилось с Народным фронтом освобождения Палестины об обмене трех попавших в плен в Ливане израильских солдат на 1150 палестинских заключенных.

На свободу тогда вышел шейх Ахмед Ясин, который позже возглавил террористическую организацию ХАМАС . Многие из освобожденных террористов впоследствии сыграли ключевую роль в начавшейся в 1987 году первой интифаде .

Израильский солдат Гилад Шалит, похищенный в 2006 году боевиками ХАМАСа с территории Израиля, вернулся на родину после пяти лет нахождения в плену.

18 октября 2011 года капрала Шалита обменяли на 1027 палестинских заключённых, находящихся в тюрьмах Израиля. Более 400 из них были осуждены израильским судом по обвинению в терроризме и убийстве около 600 израильтян.

Сотни осужденных террористов за одного израильтянина. Редкое государство так ценит жизнь своих граждан. Это вам не Россия или Советский Союз, где жизнь рядового гражданина не стоит ломаного гроша

Соотношение сторон в этих обменах поражает воображение. Сотни осужденных террористов за одного израильтянина. Редкое государство так ценит жизнь своих граждан. Это вам не Россия или Советский Союз, где жизнь рядового гражданина не стоит ломаного гроша. А иногда и не только рядового.

Андрей Королев: Вокруг дела о несостоявшемся обмене сына Сталина Якова Джугашвили на немецкого фельдмаршала Паулюса мифов больше, чем истины. Преданные коммунисты считают, что Яков не был в немецком плену, а так называемые обменные истории инспирированы теми, кто пытается представить "отца народов" человеком, не имевшим никаких отцовских чувств не только к собственному народу, но и к собственному сыну. Меж тем, говорят они, Яков Джугашвили пал смертью храбрых на поле боя, а все документы, свидетельствующие о его пленении, – ловкий фальсификат, как, например, фотографии, на которых Яков пребывает в окружении гитлеровских офицеров.

До сих пор нет доказательств принадлежности Иосифу Сталину фразы "Я солдат на фельдмаршалов не меняю". Некие историки утверждают, что эти слова – один из антисталинских мифов. Несуществующей цитатой пытаются дезавуировать попытку Сталина пойти на сепаратные переговоры с Гитлером, когда в 1943 году стало ясно, что Германия проигрывает войну.

Сторонники версии о попытке организовать обмен Якова на Паулюса утверждают, что старший лейтенант Яков Джугашвили попал в плен во время боя в местечке Лясново 16 июля 1941 года. Согласно показаниям начальника лагеря для военнопленных, располагавшегося в районе Хаммельбурга в Северной Баварии, Джугашвили пробыл здесь с апреля по июнь 1942 года, в марте 1943-го переведен в концлагерь Заксенхаузен, где при попытке броситься на колючую проволоку убит охранником. По другой версии, в бою под Лясново он погиб, а нашедшие его документы гитлеровцы устроили игру с НКВД: фотографии и листовки с изображением Якова Джугашвили использовались немцами в качестве агитационных материалов.

Не мог догадываться о возможном обмене и другой герой этой истории: фельдмаршал Паулюс, командующий 6-й армией Вермахта, попал в окружение под Сталинградом и 31 января 1943 года через офицера своего штаба передал советскому командованию ноту о сдаче в плен. Вместе с фельдмаршалом в руках советской армии оказались около 90 тысяч солдат и офицеров, которых проведут строем по улицам разрушенного города. Находясь в советских лагерях, Паулюс не сразу признал будущее поражение Германии, отказался сотрудничать с НКВД и выступить против Гитлера. Даже обращение 16 немецких генералов, организовавших антигитлеровский союз немецких офицеров, он игнорировал. И только 8 августа 1944 года подписал обращение, в котором призвал Германию устранить Адольфа Гитлера, установить новое руководство, которое способно остановить войну и создать условия для формирования мирных отношений с нынешним противником.

До сих пор нет доказательств принадлежности Иосифу Сталину фразы "Я солдат на фельдмаршалов не меняю". Некие историки утверждают, что эти слова – один из антисталинских мифов

В феврале 1946 года фельдмаршал предстанет в качестве свидетеля перед Нюрнбергским трибуналом, где бывшими соратниками будет обвинен в предательстве. Весной этого же года личный пленник Сталина вернется в Москву и окажется в Германии лишь после смерти "вождя народов". Именно Сталину он будет обязан своей жизнью. И именно лояльность к Советам станет причиной для самоубийства в 1970 году сына Паулюса Эрнеста-Александера, вместе с отцом воевавшего под Сталинградом.

Александр Подрабинек: У обменов людей есть дурной привкус товарных отношений. К тому же это противоречит основным принципам уголовного права. Но все это меркнет перед перспективой освобождения ни в чем невиновных людей.

Всякий нормальный человек радовался освобождению Владимира Буковского или Александра Гинзбурга. Кто не посочувствует Надежде Савченко и не порадуется ее возвращению на Украину?

Vladimir Bukovsky

Владимир Буковский: Здесь надо исходить из чисто утилитарных соображений: она там не выживет, она всегда будет объявлять голодовки и умрет. Поэтому, если есть возможность хоть как-то ее освободить, то надо это сделать.

Александр Подрабинек: Другой вопрос: как сами обменянные относятся к такому способу освобождения? Тут все не так просто.

Александр Гинзбург категорически не хотел эмигрировать на Запад. В отличие от многих других эмигрантов, долго добивавшихся выездной визы, его выслали, не спрашивая согласия.

Владимир Буковский не знал, огорчаться ему этому обмену или радоваться.

Владимир Буковский: Было очень смешанное чувство. Во-первых, я понимал, что никогда не вернусь сюда, а все друзья здесь. А во-вторых, конечно, чувство облегчения: я все-таки из тюрьмы лечу, у меня половина срока осталась.

Политическое решение об обмене заключенными посягает на права судебной власти

Александр Подрабинек: Надежда Савченко тоже противилась ее обмену на двух российских спецназовцев ГРУ.

Что выше: право или гуманность? Что важнее: соблюсти букву закона или спасти невиновного? На эти вопросы нет универсальных ответов. Каждый решает по-своему.

Сторонние наблюдатели могут проявлять в оценке таких событий исключительную принципиальность или безграничное сострадание. Все зависит от темперамента, профессии и личной близости к событию.

Допустимо ли менять невиновных на преступников? Ведь, например, при обмене политзаключенных на шпионов настоящие преступники уходят от реальной ответственности и наказания.

Существует и еще одна проблема, которая легко решается в авторитарных странах, но труднее – в демократиях. Политическое решение об обмене заключенными посягает на права судебной власти.

Проблемы, выходящие за пределы права, не имеют простых решений. Возможно, когда-нибудь обмены жертв деспотических режимов на осужденных преступников приобретут законные очертания.

А пока всем неравнодушным людям остается только радоваться освобождению несправедливо осужденных и, может быть, не слишком печалиться о том, что настоящие преступники смогли уйти от заслуженного наказания.