Nikolai Kuznetsov was born on July 27, 1911 in the village of Zyryanka, Perm province. At birth, he received the name Nikanor, but the future scout did not like it, and when re-issuing documents, Kuznetsov called himself Nikolai.

It is worth noting that many episodes of Kuznetsov’s life are still not fully understood, and researchers have different versions of the development of events. The reasons for this are the secrecy stamp, as well as the lack of any documentary data. Therefore, all versions of his biography are largely evaluative.

Nikolai Kuznetsov’s father Ivan served in the tsarist army in his youth, and after the 1917 revolution he joined the Bolsheviks and fought against the Kolchakites. Nikolai himself, having graduated from a seven-year school, continued his studies at the Tyumen Agricultural College and joined the Komsomol. However, he did not have time to learn how to be an agronomist, as his father soon died of tuberculosis, and Nikolai had to return home. He tried to continue his education at the Talitsky Forestry College, but even here he was unsuccessful - the young man was slandered and accused of concealing “kulak origin,” he was expelled from the Komsomol and from the school. Later, Nikolai was able to recover in a technical school, but he was not given a diploma, limiting himself to a certificate of the training course.

In 1930, Kuznetsov got a job as an assistant taxiator (a specialist in determining the volume of felled and growing trees) in the Komi-Permyak district land administration. In a new place, he recovered in the Komsomol, but calm work did not last long. Nikolai convicted his colleagues of gross official abuses and reported this to the police. The criminals received serious sentences of imprisonment, but Kuznetsov himself suffered as well. Although he did not commit any offenses, he was still sentenced to a year of corrective labor and repeatedly expelled from the Komsomol.

Special Agent of State Security

After leaving the land administration, Nikolai Kuznetsov worked for some time in the Union of Multiple Production Cooperatives and in the Red Hammer artel, participated in the collectivization and liquidation of gangs operating in the forests. Presumably, at that time, employees of state security bodies paid attention to his courage, determination and patriotic moods.

However, in addition to character and beliefs, operatives were attracted by Kuznetsov’s amazing inclination to study foreign languages.

  • Nikolay Kuznetsov in his youth
  • © Wikimedia Commons

“Kuznetsov’s tremendous linguistic abilities still make him a mystery man. They give rise to rumors that the young man might not be who he claims to be. However, in reality, most likely, we are talking about a combination of a brilliant natural gift and the ability to work on oneself, ”said Academician of the Academy of Military Sciences, Colonel Reserve Andrey Koshkin in an interview with RT.

According to him, Nikolai received the initial base in the study of German from a teacher at the school and several acquaintances of the Germans, and then polished his knowledge on his own. Later he learned the Polish language and Komi. And already during the war years - Ukrainian.

The Soviet security agencies needed a man who could, while undercover, look for spies among foreign engineers coming to Ural enterprises, historians believe. As a result, according to the researchers, in June 1932 Nikolai Kuznetsov became an employee of the secret apparatus of the OGPU of the Komi-Permyak Autonomous National District. He didn’t send him to specialized educational institutions for this purpose - there was no time for that, and formalists in the personnel department could “reject” young talent with a criminal record, twice expelled from the Komsomol.

“Despite the fact that Kuznetsov was repressed and unjustly injured, he remained a patriot of his country, understood that it would be better for her, and was faithful to the Soviet regime,” said Alexander Kolpakidi, writer and historian of special services, in an interview with RT.

For four years, Kuznetsov, fulfilling the tasks of the state security organs, traveled all over the Urals and changed several places of official work. According to researchers, he talked with foreign engineers, then with a revolver in his hands went to the woods to catch bandits. Moreover, he behaved so carefully that no one knew about his real activities.

In 1938, the leadership of local state security bodies recommended Kuznetsov to the central apparatus of the NKVD as a person of fantastic acting and linguistic abilities. Kuznetsov became interested in one of the leaders of the main department of state security of the NKVD Leonid Raikhman. He organized a conversation between the Urals and the illegal immigrant who returned from Germany and made sure that his colleagues from Komi were telling the truth.

Nikolai Kuznetsov received, according to some historians, a position of a top secret special agent, unique for the Soviet special services, with a salary of salaries at the rate of the personnel detective officer of the central apparatus. He was given cover documents in the name of a Soviet citizen of German descent and introduced into the diplomatic environment. Introducing himself as an employee of a military plant, Kuznetsov attracted the attention of foreign diplomats and intelligence officers. His charm and observation attracted people and created the “necessary” impression. With his help, the Soviet counterintelligence was able to carry out valuable recruits and obtain secret documents of a potential enemy.

Paul Siebert

With the outbreak of World War II, Nikolai Kuznetsov began to tear to the front. However, he was cherished and released not immediately. The historian of special services Nikolai Dolgopolov in his book "Legendary Scouts" mentions one short trip of Kuznetsov to the enemy rear at the initial stage of the war, but its details are unknown.

  • Soviet partisan reconnaissance Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov in the form of a German officer
  • RIA News

In early 1942, they decided to use Kuznetsov through the 4th Directorate of the NKVD, engaged in sabotage in the rear of the enemy. Kuznetsov was picked up with documents of the apparently deceased German lieutenant Paul Siebert. He was given the opportunity to watch films popular in the Third Reich and read tabloid novels that were in demand among Hitler officers. In addition, Nicholas carefully studied the orders and life of the German army. For this, he, in particular, was placed in a camp for German prisoners of war.

It is noted that Kuznetsov was not only not disclosed, but also made Nazi “friends” among the believers in Adolf Hitler’s victory, with whom he agreed to drink beer after the “victory”. Nicholas knew not only literary German, but also five or six regional dialects. As historians note, having caught what dialect the interlocutor speaks, he instantly switched to a dialect of the opposite part of Germany so as not to accidentally be caught by ignorance of some local everyday features. And that never let him down.

In the summer of 1942, under the legend of the Red Army Nikolai Grachev, Kuznetsov was abandoned in the Pobediteli special forces detachment operating in the territory of Nazi-occupied Ukraine, commanded by Colonel Dmitry Medvedev.

  • D.N. Medvedev (right), deputy. for intelligence A. A. Lukin show the commander of the partisan formation A. F. Fedorov (left) a captured German shell. 1943 year
  • © Wikimedia Commons

In German uniform and with Paul Siebert's documents, he was able to calmly penetrate the Nazi garrisons. According to historians, the Soviet intelligence initially appeared as an infantry officer, transferred to the quartermaster after a serious wound, and then the partisans took out a Gestapo badge for Kuznetsov, obliging most of the occupying structures to assist him.

“Nikolai Kuznetsov carried out work in two directions at once. On the one hand, he was a “fighter” of the invisible front and was engaged in reconnaissance, on the other, he carried out the liquidation of prominent Hitler’s bosses, personifying the occupation regime, ”said Andrei Koshkin.

In February 1943, having ambushed a courier of the Reich Commissariat “Ukraine” and having captured a secret card, Kuznetsov received information about the existence of Hitler’s secret bunker near Vinnitsa. Then he learned about plans for a large-scale offensive by the Nazi forces and about a possible special operation of the Nazis in Iran (preparing an attempt on the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition in Tehran). In the fall of 1943, as a result of the assassination attempt made by Kuznetsov, the Deputy Reich Commissioner of Ukraine Paul Dargel became disabled. Then “Siebert” organized the abduction of the head of the collaborationist units, Major General Max Ilgen, who arrived in Rivne, who was responsible for the preparation of punitive operations in Ukraine. They planned to deliver him to the detachment for trial, and, possibly, to Moscow. But the detachment at that time moved far from the city, and it was too risky to organize the transportation of Ilgen, so after interrogation he was executed on a farm near Rivne.

In total, Nikolai Kuznetsov conducted 11 liquidations of high-ranking representatives of the Nazi military and civil occupation administration.

“This is one of a kind result. There were saboteurs who eliminated more Nazis, but not of such a high level. In the case of senior executives, usually one person or one group carried out only one liquidation, ”said Alexander Kolpakidi.

In early 1944, Kuznetsov was instructed to move after the retreating German units to the West. By this time the Hitlerite command already knew who Paul Siebert was, and declared a hunt for him.

On March 9, 1944, Kuznetsov with a group of fighters died in battle with a detachment of UPA bandits disguised as Soviet uniforms *. The detailed circumstances of these tragic events are still unknown. Based on the data obtained by Soviet intelligence from the captured correspondence between the German intelligence services and the UPA commanders, Bandera first reported to the Nazis that Kuznetsov was captured, and tried to bargain for themselves from the Germans preferences for this "feat". However, then it became clear that the Soviet intelligence was dead. How Bandera was rewarded for the murder of Paul Siebert is unknown.

Serving Your People

“Nikolai Kuznetsov is an absolutely unique person. One cannot underestimate his activities as both an avenger saboteur and his intelligence work. Constantly communicating with the Nazis in various places, he received a tremendous amount of information, thousands of facts that then allowed the Soviet command to create a general idea of ​​the situation and verify the data received from other sources, ”said Alexander Kolpakidi.

At the same time, according to the historian, Kuznetsov managed to push the Nazis with Ukrainian collaborators on their foreheads.

“He left traces that made it possible to suspect Ukrainian nationalists in participating in actions against the Germans. Those were severely punished for this, and collaborators it infuriated. From the point of view of modern Ukrainian ideology, this situation seems paradoxical. In Kiev today they say that Bandera allegedly fought with the Nazis, but why then were they so annoyed by the suspicions that Kuznetsov was inciting to them? ”Kolpakidi noted.

At the same time, Nikolai Kuznetsov was not a fanatic, focused on the task at any cost. According to historians, he often risked his life on his own initiative, for example, saving Jewish children from murder by German and Ukrainian punishers.

November 5, 1944 Kuznetsov was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. His name was given to a city in the Rivne region, streets in the settlements of the USSR, educational institutions, a peak in the Pamirs and a small planet. The exploits of the legendary scout are devoted to a number of books and films.

“The appearance of people's avenger Nikolai Kuznetsov has always been an example of unlimited service to his people and his homeland, humanity and progress,” Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut of the Earth, once said.

However, in modern Ukraine, the memory of Kuznetsov began to diligently tarnish. The city of Kuznetsovsk in 2016 turned into Varash, the streets named after Kuznetsov were renamed, the descendants of Bandera began to demolish and desecrate the monuments to the Soviet intelligence.

  • Monument to the hero of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, scout Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov in Lviv
  • RIA News
  • © Lev Ustinov

“The very personality of Kuznetsov is a symbol of the struggle against Nazism, he is the historical enemy of the German and Ukrainian Nazis. The fact that Hitler and Bandera could not fully realize their cannibalistic plans, there is a large share of his merit. Therefore, the fact that the heirs of collaborators do not like him is not surprising, ”concluded Andrey Koshkin.

* “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (UPA) is a Ukrainian organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 11/17/2014).