A difficult childhood, war, and hunger years became an impetus for him to study well, and an attempt to learn Indian culture turned into the meaning of life. Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin, having graduated from the Institute of International Relations, began his career with the position of translator attache in Pakistan. When the state security committee became interested in a capable young man as an employee, Leonid Vladimirovich considered it an honor and agreed to work for the good of his homeland. For two years he headed the foreign intelligence service. And with the collapse of the USSR, a career in state security ended. At 77 years old, Leonid Vladimirovich took his own life by shooting himself in his apartment.
Marina Grove
It was from this place that the life of the future intelligence officer and wit Leonid Vladimirovich began. With Maryina Roshcha mother Shebarshina Praskovya Mikhailovna was born, was born in 1909. After graduating from the seven-year plan, she went to work in the artel. In 1931, she married Vladimir Ivanovich, a native Muscovite. So, in 1935 Leonid was born, and a couple of years later, Valeria.
A family of four huddled in a small room on eight squares. Leonid, recalling that time, wrote that he sometimes had to sleep on the floor, since there was no place for a bed.
When a father was drafted into the army, living a mother with two children was difficult. There was not enough bread, it was cold and hungry. But they were lucky: Vladimir Ivanovich returned from the front alive, although he was wounded. Life began to improve, my father got a job. But in 1951, Leonid's father died of addiction to alcohol in the forty-third year of his life from a brain hemorrhage.
Study
Shebarshin Leonid Vladimirovich, whose biography began with a difficult childhood, as a schoolboy, understood that strength is in knowledge. Therefore, he read a lot (his father instilled this habit in him) and dreamed of helping his family: his mother and sister. Studying was easy for him. In 1952 he received a certificate and a silver medal. Then the entrance exams for students who graduated with honors were canceled.
The first specialty that Leonid wanted to master was the profession of a military pilot-engineer. But on admission, strict requirements were imposed on the health of the applicant. The attempt to study at the Zhukovsky Academy turned out to be a failure: the medical board advised not to risk Shebarshin and pick up the documents. They justified this by the fact that they will now take it, and later they will be deducted anyway for health reasons.
On the recommendation of a friend, Leonid decides to enter the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Faculty of Indian Culture. In 1954, the institute was disbanded and all students were transferred to MGIMO.
Tselina
Having become an international student, Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin was forced to spend more money on the journey from Maryina Roshcha to the institute and vice versa. The family still lived poorly. At night, the young man had to unload the cars. And when Leonid mastered the Urdu language, he was able to engage in the correspondence of manuscripts, for which he received more money than for physical labor.
Life went on: successful sessions, favorite reading, medieval translations. Until 1956, the student was sent to Kazakhstan for harvesting. Leonid got the position of assistant to the combiner. Students for this period not only learned the price of bread, but also rallied, earned money. And Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin also met his future wife.
Nina Pushkina was a student from the Chinese department. From virgin land, they returned inseparable couple and after a few months signed. And already in practice we went to Pakistan as a family.
Hello Asia
The art of diplomatic conversation Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin began to study in the city of Karachi. He was appointed translator and assistant ambassador. They lived with Nina in the embassy building. The room was pretty bad: damp and small room. But at that time, the Shebarshins couple believed that you could not imagine a better housing. In the summer of 1959, their son Alex was born. Soon, the junior embassy employee Leonid Vladimirovich was transferred to the post of attache.
At the same time, Vladimir was engaged in the domestic politics of Pakistan. And knowledge of the Urdu language helped him in this. A long business trip came to an end, and the family left Karachi in 1962, returning to Moscow.
Interesting offer
For four years in Asia, Leonid has grown professionally to a third secretary. And this is a significant achievement for a 27-year-old man. In Moscow, Shebarshin got a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the department of Southeast Asia. Leonid's duties, as he himself wrote, consisted of boring official negotiations, correspondence, and dreary party meetings. Compared to Pakistan, working in the Russian Foreign Ministry did not bring joy and was not interesting.
At this moment, Shebarshin received an offer to visit the KGB for a secret conversation. The committee suggested that he become an employee of state security. So Leonid Vladimirovich got into a reconnaissance school.
Learning a new profession
The future chief of foreign intelligence Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin received theoretical and practical skills in the field of ensuring the country's security in the 101st intelligence school. Trained with him 5 people elected for this service.
New disciplines were studied, practical classes were held in the city. The goal was to identify observations, communication with the source, reporting. All this required good physical preparation, fiction, emotional endurance. During training, Leonid came up with a scheme for the operation, which was later awarded a prize. Later, he applied it in his work, and the scheme paid off.
In 1963, the Shebarshins family was given an apartment. A year later, Tatyana was born. She lived for 19 years and died of an asthma attack, having managed to give birth to a grandson.
Intelligence officer
Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin, being an employee of PSU, was sent to the internal political group of the embassy in Pakistan. Having shown successful results in his work, in 1968 he took refresher courses at the KGB Institute. Three years later, Leonid Vladimirovich is already the first deputy resident of state security in India. And from 1975 to 1977, he independently manages agent networks in India.
Work in Asia ended with the appointment of Leonid Vladimirovich as the head of PSU KGB. This period (1989-1991) in the country was designated in history as an active stage of perestroika. The intelligence department began to impose the idea of friendly Soviet-American relations. Economic difficulties began, the shortage of goods. The superpower surrendered its global leadership position.
After the August coup on 08/25/1991 Leonid Vladimirovich wrote a resignation report. These events marked the beginning of the creative activity of the intelligence chief. In 1998, the book "Chronicles of Timelessness" was published, authored by Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin. Aphorisms of the chief intelligence officer of the USSR are relevant to this day. Another publication was the biographical book "The Hand of Moscow", which was released in 1993.
In 2012, L. V. Shebarshin shot himself from an award pistol.
Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin
They say that the best creative works are created when their author is in a state of mental decline and disappointment. So Leonid Vladimirovich published a collection of aphorisms “Chronicles of Timelessness” after frustration. The homeland, for the safety of which he fought all his life, is no more. The “main adversary” (the term for the United States in KGB circles) is now an ally.
Quotes:
- Did anything other than mistakes and crimes exist in the history of our state?
- Soviet power gradually sank to theft. It was with him that democracy started.
- They swore that they were building a new state, and only personal dachas were built.
- The new leader is better than any old leader - such is the axiom of Russian political science.