Tsar's General Pavel Dyakonov
The October Revolution 1917 of the year spread officers and generals of the old Russian army on opposite sides of the barricades. Some of them took the Soviet regime. Some patriotic military personnel, including the most experienced and most capable counterintelligence and intelligence officers, who by fate turned out to be outside their homeland, began to cooperate with the foreign intelligence of the young Soviet state. By putting their uncommon abilities at the service of the new government, working not for fear, but for conscience, helping to expose conspiracies, disclose the intentions of those who hatched plans for a new intervention, the occupation of Russian lands, they made a significant contribution to ensuring the security of the Soviet Republic. The experience of the old cadres of the state apparatus, the Russian army, counterintelligence and intelligence was invaluable for the new regime. Among such patriots, a representative of the first generation of Soviet intelligence officers, His Imperial Majesty, the General Staff of the Russian Army, Major General Pavel Dyakonov, occupies a worthy place.VISIT TO THE EMBASSY
On the evening of March 1924, a slim gentleman dressed in a raincoat and an expensive dark three-piece suit entered the lobby of the Soviet embassy on Rue Grenelle in Paris. Turning to the duty diplomat, he asked for an immediate meeting with the Soviet ambassador: “This is a military conspiracy against the Republic of Soviets. I am one of the direct participants in this conspiracy. My name is Pavel Dyakonov. ”
The word "conspiracy" had an effect, and the guest was immediately taken to a separate room, where a resident of the OGPU INO met him. He asked Pavel Pavlovich to put on paper the information that became known to him. After some time, Dyakonov’s message with the corresponding comments of the resident was delivered by diplomatic courier to Moscow. After reviewing him, the head of foreign intelligence Meer Trilisser said:
“The general recalled himself very timely. His message can be trusted: he is an honest campaigner; he was not implicated in executions and executions. His information is quite reliable and is overlapped by information from other sources. However, before trusting Dyakonov, we should study it thoroughly: after all, this is one of the prominent EMRO members. ”
Dyakonov’s material contained extremely important information about the program of total terror outside the USSR against Soviet citizens and institutions, which the insurgents of the Russian All-Military Union (EMRO) intended to carry out.
Terror and sabotage became by that time weapons This organization, which aimed to overthrow the Bolshevik regime. The message of Dyakonov also indicated that the EMRO leadership had simultaneously decided to prepare in the Western European cities, where there were branches of the organization, troika and five terrorists for throwing directly into Soviet territory in order to carry out terrorist acts and organize armed demonstrations of the population there.
The name of Major General Dyakonov, a former Russian military attaché in the UK, was well known to foreign intelligence officials. Therefore, in Moscow, his information was treated extremely carefully. The next day, the materials on Dyakonov, which the Center had, lay on the desk of the head of the Foreign Department. In the help submitted to him, in particular, it was noted:
FROM PATRIOT BIOGRAPHY
“Pavel Pavlovich Dyakonov was born on February 4 of the year 1878 in Moscow in the family of a soldier. With 17 years, he connected his life with the army. After completing his studies at the Moscow Practical Academy of Commercial Sciences in 1895, he enrolled as a volunteer in the 5-th Grenadier Kiev regiment, becoming a professional soldier. He graduated with honors from Kazan Infantry Cadet School, and in 1905, the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. He took part in the Russian-Japanese war.
Until the end of 1913, Dyakonov held various positions in the General Directorate General Staff. In July, 1914 was appointed Assistant Military Attache in London. At the same time the impeccable knowledge of English, German and French was taken into account. With the start of the First World War, the Dyakonov filed a report requesting his transfer to the army, and in September 1914 was sent to the front.
In January, 1916, Colonel Diakonov, was appointed commander of the 2 Special Regiment of the Russian Expeditionary Force sent to France. He took an active part in the battles against the Germans. His military achievements were marked by seven top Russian and five foreign orders. For military service in the battle of Marne, he received the distinction of the officer of the Legion of Honor, was awarded the officer’s Cross of the Legion of Honor and two French military crosses, which gave him the right to receive French citizenship.
At the beginning of 1917, Dyakonov was transferred to work at the General Staff. At the suggestion of the Chief of the General Staff for military distinctions, Nicholas II promoted to major general. In September of the same year, he was seconded to London to serve as a military attache in the UK, where he remained until May 1 of the year 1920. After the closure of the apparatus of the Russian military mission in the UK in May 1920, he moved permanently to France.
In the White Guard movement in Russia did not participate. Neither he nor his family members have ever expressed hostile intentions against the new government in Russia ... ”
ATTRACTION TO COOPERATION
Trilisser emphasized the last lines with a bold line, and wrote in the left corner of the document: “To conduct a confidential conversation with General Dyakonov and find out his future intentions.”
Resident INO OGPU held in Paris, another meeting with the general. During the conversation, Dyakonov handed over to the intelligence officer a plan for the overall work of the EMRO. “Terror, exclusively abroad, against Soviet officials, as well as those who are working on the collapse of emigration,” the document said, “is a priority for the organization’s activities.”
In Paris, Warsaw, Sofia, Prague, Berlin and other capitals of European countries, it was recommended to train "troika", "five" and individual insurgents of the EMRO for the murder of Soviet diplomats.
Dyakonov also said that Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich was actively interested in the EMRO plans, who asked the general to constantly supply him with information about the activities of this organization. He noted that the prince also wants to know everything that the head of the EMRO general Kutepov and his militants are plotting against Russian monarchists.
The purity of the thoughts of General Dyakonov did not cause doubts in the residency. The Russian patriot was aware that the implementation of the EMRO plans to organize a new crusade against the Bolsheviks, followed by the absolute majority of the Russian people, would lead to new blood streams in their homeland. Therefore, such plans of the counter-revolution did not arouse the support of the general. Tsarsky professional intelligence officer P.P. Dyakonov began to actively cooperate on a patriotic basis with Soviet foreign intelligence. In a letter to the leadership of intelligence, he wrote:
“I hereby declare that, being in the past, a man hostile towards the Soviet power, at the present time I have resolutely changed my attitude towards it.
Wishing to prove my loyalty to the Soviet government, I voluntarily and consciously undertake the obligation to inform him in a timely manner about the activities of right-wing (anti-Soviet) parties and counter-revolutionary groups.
I pledge to protect, defend and serve the interests of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and its government.
P. Dyakonov.
Paris, March 1924. ”
The Soviet intelligence officer, Dyakonov, successfully carried out the tasks of the Center for the decomposition of the Russian All-Union Union, which trained and launched terrorist groups on the territory of the USSR. He also received important information about the activities of the White Guard organizations of the Cyrillic organizations and the French military intelligence. Dyakonov was directly involved in the operation to capture the head of the EMRO leader General Kutepov and in the implementation of a number of operational combinations. In particular, as a result of one of these combinations, the French authorities arrested the adjutant of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich and the head of the White Guard organization of the Young Russians, Kazem-bek.
At the beginning of 1930, Dyakonov reported that a group of former royal generals led by Turkul had established contact with German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who was seeking financial assistance and political support. He stressed that Turkul and his associates have high-ranking patrons in the French General Staff.
On behalf of the Center, Dyakonov brought to the attention of the Second Bureau of the General Staff of the French Army (military intelligence), with whose representatives he maintained official contacts during the First World War, and then - on instructions from the INO, information about pro-fascist White Guard officers and generals. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the French authorities, to whom General Dyakonov provided the relevant documents, expelled from France a large group of pro-German wing of the Russian emigration, headed by General Turkul. The expulsion of these persons weakened the "fifth column" of the fascists in France. The leadership of the French military intelligence in this regard, in writing, informed General Dyakonov: “Your information about the Russians, who are known for their German sympathies, is extremely valuable for France. We appreciate our cooperation. ”
During the Spanish Civil War, the Deacons repeatedly traveled there with extremely important special reconnaissance tasks from Moscow. After the occupation of France by the fascist troops of the Deacons, he was arrested and interrogated. The Germans were primarily interested in his trips to Spain. During interrogations, he said nothing, behaved courageously and steadfastly. Pavel Dyakonov spent forty-three days in a fascist prison.
Since on the eve of the Nazi invasion of France to Pavel Pavlovich and his daughter, who was also arrested, Soviet citizenship was granted and they received Soviet passports, the USSR People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs demanded that the Soviet citizens arrested in France be released immediately. The German military command in Paris was forced to fulfill this requirement. At the end of May 1941, Pavel Pavlovich Dyakonov and his daughter Maria Pavlovna returned to their homeland.
“This is the happiest day of our lives! - said the touched old general to the operative worker who met them at the station in Moscow. “I hope that our life will now be devoid of all worries and wanderings ...”
Unfortunately, Dyakonov was wrong. After the attack of the German fascist troops on the Soviet Union, the general and his daughter, as recently returned from abroad, were arrested "on suspicion of maintaining contact with foreign intelligence services and spying against the USSR." Again, the detention center, prison again. This time - the Soviet. After the first interrogations, Dyakonov wrote to the Commissar of Internal Affairs:
“During 17 years of overseas work, I had to perform many demanding tasks. For this work, I received only thanks. My head does not fit, as they could seriously suspect me of criminal activity against my homeland. Needless to say, what moral pain caused me such a suspicion. "
The investigator, who conducted the Dyakonov case, handed over the letter to the authorities. Suddenly, a letter from the prison cell found the addressee. It turned out to be the head of the foreign intelligence service of the NKVD, Pavel Fitin, who imposed the resolution “Please understand.” The report sent to the investigating authorities stated: “The deacons and his daughter are known to the NKVD 1 administration. Management considers it necessary to release them. " In October 1941, the Dyakonovs were set free.
For some time they lived in the evacuation in Tashkent, and then moved to the Kyrgyz city of Kara-Suu. Pavel Pavlovich worked there in the district consumer union. In November, the Deacons' 1942, left for Moscow with a train, escorting cargoes for the Red Army. On the road, he became seriously ill and was placed in a hospital at Chelkar Station (Kazakhstan), where 28 January 1943 passed away.
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