All hope lies in exploration
In the days when NATO squadrons fly along the borders of Russia and over the Mother of Russian cities, the writer Platon Besedin recalls military intelligence officers, on whose work the fate of the Motherland depends at critical moments.
There is such a belief - or a myth, or a legend; it doesn’t matter what you call it - that before the Great Patriotic War, intelligence reported in detail and accurately to Stalin about the plans of Hitler’s Germany. However, the Generalissimo did not believe it - and therefore the Nazi blow came to a certain extent as a surprise to him.
It doesn’t matter whether Stalin was right or wrong, it doesn’t matter what and how he actually decided - maybe there was no dangerous surprise at all. Another important thing is that our intelligence worked very, very effectively. Which, in fact, was confirmed by the further course of the war. And they learned global secrets, and deftly took over the “language.” And even after the Victory, intelligence showed its best side: you can recall, for example, the extraction of nuclear secrets.
After the suicide of the USSR, the glorious traditions (cliché, yes, but here it is very appropriate) of Soviet intelligence officers passed on to their Russian successors. And it is not customary to talk about this side of the country’s defense life. There are both objective and subjective reasons for this. Well, who will trumpet what is classified? It’s not about making legends about a “newbie” - there are real deeds and real salvation here. Therefore, intelligence officers carry out their service behind the scenes, in absolute secrecy.
However, there is another set of reasons why little is said about intelligence officers. Well, unless they make a series of some kind - albeit sometimes relatively cute, but still in many ways cliched and in some places even caricatured.
By the way, this is also why a certain group of the population - usually not very inquisitive - has a stereotype that Russian intelligence does not do anything special. Attached to this is another, very harmful stereotype that foreign intelligence - Israeli, British and, of course, American - are working at full capacity. They watch and stop.
This stereotype - as harmful as it is pernicious - is cultivated not by facts, not by realities, but purely by mass media stories. For example, endless Hollywood “masterpieces” about how great the CIA works, how omnipotent it is, merciless towards its enemies and merciful towards its own. And some Matt Damon or Colin Farrell embodies the image of a fearless and effective agent on the screen. But in reality this is just a beautiful fairy tale for the viewer.
However, the story behind it is anything but vanilla. After all, the CIA has been collaborating with Hollywood for decades. Moreover, we are talking not only about the embodiment of relevant images and plots on the screen, but also about the specific recruitment of “stars” and celebrities.
And here, I must admit, there is a significant contrast with Russian realities, because we don’t get along particularly well with the film incarnation of brave intelligence officers. Apparently, all the places on the screen are occupied by “bloody security officers.” It is certainly necessary to correct this shortcoming. Yes, in the 90s we lived in such a way that we didn’t care if we were alive, and in principle it was not always possible to retain valuable personnel in the service. But now it’s time to work on the mass media image of an intelligence officer. And steps are being taken in this direction.
In fact, despite all the malicious stereotypes, our intelligence officers, as a rule, work brilliantly. Take a moment and remember how many times you thought that now everything would go wrong and happen in the wrong way - perhaps even collapse. However, at the seemingly final moment, everything changed - and relief came.
How many times, for example, have we been told that Russia will drown bloodily in Syria, just as the Soviet Union once did in Afghanistan. But this did not happen. On the contrary, our army brilliantly and with minimal losses dealt with the enemy at the distant approaches. Moreover, it did not tear into shreds relations with the major players there: the USA, Turkey, Israel.
And this is primarily the merit of our intelligence officers. The same story applies to Ukraine. After all, it is politicians, and not the military, who are responsible for how the destruction in the “cauldrons” carried out by miners and tractor drivers was used.
Perhaps the intelligence officers are one of the few who work there effectively. So we are saying that the intelligence school in Russia is not only alive, but also functioning effectively. Unlike, by the way, from many other structures. After the shaky 90s, we managed to preserve the system, cement it, and then develop and improve it.
Decades later, we will, of course, find out how much good Russian intelligence has done for the benefit of its people, how many feats and brilliant operations it has carried out - but now is not the time, nor the place, to talk about this. Things like this love silence. So it’s worth waiting to find out the truth.
So people who know just smile when listening to the tales of profane people. In fact, our intelligence is protecting us. And the fact that, under such colossal external pressure, Russia not only holds the line, but sometimes dominates, is largely due to its merit.
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