information about his parents. The only sibling mentioned was a
brother, Yuri, who was born in 1938 and described as a train mechanic.
Tolkachev identified his wife as Natalia Ivanova nŽe Kuzmina. She
was born in 1935 and worked as an electronics engineer at the same
institute where he worked--he described her as an "antenna specialist."
He wrote that his wife's mother "had been executed in 1938," but he
said nothing about the reasons for her execution. He noted that his
wife's father had spent many years in a labor camp, typically the fate of
"enemies of the Soviet state." Freed in 1955, he had returned to
Moscow, but died shortly thereafter. Tolkachev commented a number
of times to at least one of his case officers that the brutal treatment that
his wife's parents had suffered was a key factor in his motivation to
work against the Soviet regime. He never shed any light on why the
authorities had taken these actions against his wife's parents, but once
suggested that his wife and her parents were Jewish. Given the
Stalinists' anti-Semitism, this factor may have played a role in their
persecution.
Tolkachev apparently was devoted to his family and took their interests
into account in everything that he did. He wrote that he helped his wife
with the housework and liked to go shopping with her. He said that she
would not question where he got "reasonable sums" of money. He
explained: "I got married at 30 and have lived with my wife already 22
years. I am 52 and my wife is 44. Apparently, I belong to those who
love only once. I consider that I have the normal attachment to the
family that exists in mankind." The couple had one child, a son named
Oleg, born in 1966. In 1979, Oleg was described as going to "art
school;" by 1982, he was studying at an architectural institute.
Tolkachev made it clear from the beginning that he had not told, and
would not tell, his wife or son about his work for US intelligence.
In detailing his technical credentials, Tolkachev wrote that he had
completed "optical-mechanical radar training" in 1948 and graduated
from the Kharkov Polytechnical Institute in 1954. Since then, he had
worked at NIIR (Scientific Research Institute of Radio Building). He
described himself as a "leading systems designer" at this institute and
said that he worked in a large open office with 24 other people. (In
writing this, he seemed to recognize that there would be interest in
knowing how much privacy he had in his office, in terms of his ability
to steal secrets.)
Tolkachev led a relatively comfortable life. He said that he earned 250
rubles per month, plus a 40 percent "secrecy bonus," which would give
him a normal salary of some 350 rubles (about $110 at the official
exchange rate at that time). His wife's salary would have doubled this
amount. He later added that he occasionally received monetary awards
for inventions in his field. An average Soviet salary at that time was
estimated at 120 rubles per month.
Tolkachev and his family lived on the 9th floor of an apartment
building only some 400 meters from the US Embassy. He noted that
this location had allowed him to walk unobtrusively near the Embassy
when he was seeking to establish contact. The apartment consisted of
two rooms, plus a kitchen, bath, and toilet. Although modest by US
standards, it was quite luxurious by Moscow standards. These cramped
quarters, however, were to limit his ability to carry out his clandestine
role for the CIA.
Various health problems bothered Tolkachev during his collaboration
with the CIA. At one time or another, he indicated that he had high
blood pressure, peritonitis, and gastritis. He also had trouble breathing
at night due to a broken nose that he had suffered as a youth playing
hockey. Nonetheless, he described an active life. His hobbies were
jogging, skiing, reading, listening to Voice of America and West
German news broadcasts, and watching TV. He also said that he and
his family enjoyed camping out in the summer.
Motivation
Tolkachev was not a member of the Communist Party. He said that he
had lost his early interest in politics because it had become "enmeshed
in such an impassable hypocritical demagogy." His theater going had
declined, he wrote, because all the plays had become too ideological.
When asked during his first personal meeting about his motivation for
approaching US intelligence, Tolkachev said that he was "a dissident at
heart," who could best "contribute to the cause" by taking advantage of
his access to unique information of value to the West. In April 1979, he
explained his motivation in a written note, of which the following is an
excerpt:
. . . I can only
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