by John Barron
“How about giving us a quarter?” one said.
“My pockets are full of quarters. But not one quarter I have says deadbeat on it.” They turned away, maybe sensing they were confronted by someone who hungered to hit them.
The pristine mountains and cool, pure air of Colorado made him think of parts of the Caucasus, and an indoor skating rink recalled good times skating in Rubtsovsk and Omsk, and he saw Nadezhda gliding toward him, waving.
I would like to see her and my friends just for a day. Skate in the park; go back to the forests; stop by the factory.
Las Vegas, in consequence of Party conjurations, always had been the supreme symbol of the iniquities and depravities of capitalism, surpassing even the famous decadence of Hollywood. He fully expected to see couples copulating and gangsters shooting it out on the streets, while the bloated rich played cards amid sniffs of cocaine in opulently upholstered and cushioned casinos. So what he saw disappointed, then surprised, then beguiled, and ultimately entranced.
He marveled that a city so clean, neat, and spacious could rise in the midst of desert. His motel in the center of the city was inexpensive; but the rooms were elegant in size and appointments, and the swimming pool was splendid. The shows at the casinos were excellent, yet also inexpensive, as were the drinks.
I will just drink this cheap whiskey and watch all the people. Look at them. They are all kinds of people, and they are enjoying themselves. It’s like a carnival, not a brothel. Of course, they are foolish to gamble. The chances are they will lose their money. But it’s their choice. If that’s the way they want to have a good time, it’s their business. They lied about this city. They lied about everything.
In the awesome grandeur of Wyoming, Montana, and Washington and the national parks, he saw more lies, for the Party said greedy capitalism had raped, robbed, and emaciated all the land. He stayed a night in a logging town set in a valley by a clear river surrounded by mountains. The climate and the expanses were like Siberia, and he longed for Siberia.
About forty miles outside San Francisco, he started noticing signs advertising all sorts of lodging, restaurants, and nightclubs in the city. That’s right. There are no signs outside Rubtsovsk or Omsk or Moscow because there are no places to stay or eat. You stay in the railway station if there’s room. Sure, we have signs. They tell how great the Party is, how much the Party is achieving. No signs tell you where to buy sausage.
He stayed in another downtown motel owned by immigrants from India. His room was dean, cheap, and had a big color television. At his request a taxi driver dropped him off in the “worst area” of downtown San Francisco. It was a cesspool of garish nightclubs, pornographic shops, prostitutes, homosexuals, transvestites, junkies, pimps, filthy, unhealthy-looking dropouts, and rebels against society. He ate in a hole in the wall and felt as if he were in a human zoo, yet the fried fish, fried potatoes, and coleslaw, for which he paid $1.50, were good.
Two prostitutes, one black, one white, tried to lure him into a brothel, “For thirty dollars, we’ll give you a real good tune.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t be stupid. You know. For thirty dollars you can have both of us.”
Here the Party was right. The dregs accumulated here were to him as disgusting as anything the Party ever claimed, and such human waste, insofar as it was visible, would be flushed out of Soviet society.
As it was early when he went back to his room, he switched on the television and turned the knob from channel to channel until he saw something very familiar. How wonderful! In progress on the screen was a superb public television performance of Anna Karenina.
There were so many choices. Before, the discovery and contemplation of them had invigorated and stimulated, as did the contemplation of a daring and original move in chess. Now he didn’t care. All visions of what could be were clouded, dulled, marred by yearning for what might have been with her.
At a roadside cafe near Odessa, Texas, a Latin girl served him. She was not so pretty as Maria, but she smiled and carried herself like Maria. He bolted his meal and raced the breadth of Texas in fewer than twenty-four hours and sped foolishly, suicidally toward the institute.
Everywhere they had been together he revisited. He drove to the hacienda and en route back pulled off the road and stopped about where she had spoken to him. And now a delirium of irrationality afflicted him. It was illogical, senseless, but in its effects on him, it was as real as a typhoid delirium. He wanted to flee from himself, from her, from America, the extravagant successes of which made it seem now like an alien planet where he never could be a normal inhabitant.
Primordial impulses seized and held and pushed him, and he could not resist them. He wanted to feel the mud of the streets, smell the stink in which he had grown up, be among the desolate, cold huts, hear Russian, be in the land of his birth, his people, his ancestors. He was hearing and being drawn by not only the call of the Mother Country, but the Call of the Wild.
Did they not say all I have to do is telephone and in twenty-four hours I will be in Moscow? Did not Brezhnev himself promise they would not punish me? Can I not fight for my people better by being among them? Is not my duty to be with my people as Maria is with hers? I will do it. I will go home.
He left his flight jacket, his flight suit, and everything else in the apartment and started north toward Washington — and the Soviet Embassy.
Great stakes rode with him. His voluntary return would prove to millions upon millions within and without the Soviet Union that the Party was right, that Soviet society was superior to American society, that it was the beacon lighting the way to the future of man. A New Communist Man who had seen and judged, who had been captured and escaped would attest dramatically and convincingly to these truths before all the world.
Crossing the North Carolina border into Virginia, he still was pointed toward the Embassy. But as in all other crises, he tried to be Spartacus, to summon forth the best within himself, to think logically. Why did you leave? Has anything that made you leave changed? Are there purposes in life higher than yourself? Where could you hurt that system most? What could you do back there even if they didn’t punish you? Do you really think they would just say, “Welcome home, Comrade!” Who has lied to you? The Americans or the Party? Would Spartacus surrender?
About 2:00 A.M. north of Richmond, the fever broke, and Belenko first knew it when his hands began to shake on the steering wheel. He was so physically weak that he had to rest, and he pulled in at a truck stop.
An elderly waitress with faded blond hair and a face worn by many years gave him coffee and studied him. “Honey, you been smoking?”
“What?”
“If you’re on pot, you ought to let it wear off before you drive anymore. How about some breakfast?”
“Just leave me alone.”
“No, honey, I’m going to get you some breakfast. You need something to eat. It’s on the house.”
Around 4:00 A.M. he leaned on the doorbell at Peter’s house, ringing it continuously until Peter, in pajamas, opened the door. Trained to be most poised in the presence of danger, Peter was calm. “I see you’re in trouble. Come in.”
Slowly, with shame, Belenko told him, taking almost two hours.
“Viktor, I wish you had called me. But I can’t criticize you. This is not uncommon. I should have recognized the signs when you were here last month. Now it’s over; you are immunized. It would have been a great tragedy, most of all for you. Someday you will see that because you are the way you are and because there is freedom here, the United States is more your homeland than the Soviet Union ever could be.”
“I must go tell Gregg.”
“Don’t worry about that. Get some sleep. We’ll let him know.”
“No. I must do it myself.”
Harassed by early calls from his Pentagon office, behind schedule, and half-dressed, Gregg was irritated by the unexpected appearance of Belenko.
“I have to talk to you.”
“Make it quick; I’m late.”
After Belenko had spoken for a couple of minutes or so, Gregg picked up the phone and dialed his office. “I won’t be in this morning. Call me here if you need me.” He listened without comment or interruption until Belenko concluded his recitation of the crisis he had just survived.
“Viktor, I think you’re finally free. Let’s take the day off and go fly.”
As Belenko climbed up over the Potomac estuary and soared above the Chesapeake Bay, he felt, he knew Gregg was right.
Index
Agriculture, in USSR, 26-27
harvest, 51-52,72, 87-88
Khrushchev’s plan, 37-38
Air Force, U.S.: fighter base, 156
Aircraft carrier: U.S. Navy, 161-164
Alcohol consumption, 12, 35-36, 95
aircraft alcohol, 82-83,98
United States, 159
workers, 46, 54
Alekseyevna, Nadezhda, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 59
Armament production:
Omsk, USSR, 44, 53
Armavir, USSR, 61-63, 65-66,72
B-1 (aircraft), 74
B-70 (aircraft), plans for, 177, 179
Baltimore Sun: editorial quoted, 138
Bandera, Stepan, 99n
Belenko, Viktor Ivanovich:
DOSAAF training:
flight, 49-50
pre-flight, 47-48
father, 23, 25, 26-27, 29, 30, 64
flight-instructor duty, 81-85
Japan, stay in, 109-122
lifestyle, 22
alcohol use, 36, 217
Belenko, Viktor Ivanovich: (continued)
medical-school career, 51,52
mother: press-conference appearance, 137
physical appearance, 8-9
recovery by Russians, importance of, 124—125
Soviet Army cadet training, 62-63, 65-75
stepmother, 29-30, 33,64
United States, 142-213
wife, 8
(See also Petrovna, Ludmilla)
worker, 44-47, 53-57, 58
youth, 23-44
boxing mastery, 33,35
pranks, 32-33
reading habits, 31, 32, 33, 41
schooling, 27, 28, 30-31, 40-41, 42-44
Brezhnev, Leonid I., 40, 88
Brown, Frederick, 128
Galley, William, 69n
Carr, M. Robert: article by, quoted, 175
Chechens (people), 70
Chitose, Japan: military base, 19, 20, 107
Cholera, 65-66
Chuguyevka, USSR, 8, 95
base near, 9-12,96-98, 100-106, 218
Cockroaches, Belenko’s fascination with, 26
Collective farms, 25, 26, 27, 51-52, 72, 87-88
Combat simulator: United States, 182-183
Communist Party: teachings of, 28, 56
United States, 66
Communist Weekend, 10, 13
Concentration camps: near Rubtsovsk, USSR, 28
ex-inmates, 38
Conquest, Robert: book by, 117
Corn growing: Khrushchev’s plan, 37-38
Dark Forces: defined, 43
Davis, Angela, 66-67
Dobrynin, Anatoly, 139
Donbas (region), USSR: Belenko’s childhood in, 23-25
DOSAAF (Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Air Forces and Navy), 44
classes, 47-51
F-14 (aircraft), 73-74
F-15 (aircraft), 74
simulation, 183
Falls Church, Va.: apartment, 155
bar, 158-159
Fascell, Dante, 135
Ford, Gerald:
appeal to, by Belenko’s wife, 137
asylum granted to Belenko, 128-129, 130, 133
meeting with Gromyko, 139-140
Galich, Aleksandr, 88
Golodnikov, Dmitri Vasilyevich, 89-92
Gromyko, Andrei, 134, 139, 140
Grozny, USSR, 69-71
Hakodate, Japan: Belenko’s
landing site, 109-113, 129
Helsinki Accords, 135,137
Hokkaido (island), Japan:
Belenko’s arrival:
airspace, 18-21
landing site (Hakodate), 109-113, 130
Hyakuri Ah- Base, Japan, 172
Ivanovna, Serafima, 29-30, 33,64
Japan:
airspace, Belenko in, 18-21
Belenko’s stay in, 109-122
government response to Russians, 131-132, 139
harassment by Russians, 129-130,131,164
Kageoka, Masao, 130
Keegan, George J., Jr., 176
quoted, 181-182,186
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich, 37,38,40, 59, 70, 117
Kissinger, Henry, 126,128
Kolkhozes (collective farms), 25, 26-27, 51-52, 72, 87-88
Kosaka, Zentaro, 139
Kremlin, Moscow, USSR, 41
Krotkov, Nikolai Ivanovich, 88,94
Krylov, Lev, 135,137,138
Kudirka, Simas, 127
Las Vegas, Nev., 209
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich:
tomb, 41
Lermontov, Mikhail Yurevich, 32
Litvinov, Grigori Petrovich, 71
Los Angeles Times: editorial quoted, 132-133
Malenkov, Colonel, 92-93
Marxism-Leninism: teachings, 28, 219
MiG-17s (aircraft), 73
MiG-25s (aircraft):
accidents, 106
design, 14, 173, 177, 178, 179, 180
explosive charges, 14-15, 172
fuel for, 98, 107
history, 171, 177-178
radar, 174,178,180
radio, frequency of, 19, 108
range, 173
Russian claims for, 77, 171
secrecy surrounding, 14, 169, 179
speed and altitude, 14, 169,173,174
support personnel, 96
U.S. perceptions of, 14—15, 169-170, 175, 176, 176-177, 181
Miyazawa, Kiichi, 132
Moscow, USSR, 41
Muslims: Chechens, 70
My Lai massacre: Vietnam, 69
National Operations and Intelligence Watch Officers Network (NOIWON):
United States, 126, 127
Navy, U.S.: aircraft carrier, 161-164
Nessen, Ron, 130
New Communist Man, 56-57, 220
Belenko’s attitude toward, 32,43
Newsweek: quoted, 175
NOIWON (NationalOperations and Intelligence Watch Officers Network): United States, 126,127
Omsk, USSR, 44
Belenko’s jobs in, 44-47, 53-56,58-59
Belenko’s return to, 64-65
medical school: Belenko’s application to, 51
Osnos, Peter, 124
Pankovsky, Yevgenny Petrovich, 9
Parachute jumping, 47-48
Petrovna, Ludmilla, 77, 80, 97,104
dissatisfaction, sources of, 85-86,95
press-conference appearance, 135-137
Phantom fighters:
American, 14,73
Japanese, 18,19
Polyansky, Dmitri, 130
Powers, Francis Gary, 179
Ruble, value of, 55n
Rubtsovsk, USSR:
Belenko’s childhood in, 27-44
Belenko’s return to, 64
crime, 39
industrialization, 28
pollution from, 34
Rumsfeld, Donald, 131
SR-71s (aircraft), 174, 177
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de, 32
Sakharovka Air Base,
USSR: Belenko’s preparation for departure, 12-17
Salsk, USSR, 78, 85, 87
SAMs (surface-to-air missiles), 17, 18, 154, 179
San Francisco, Calif., 209
Schlesinger, James R., 14
Scowcroft, Brent, 129,131
Seamans, Robert C., 14, 169
Shevsov, Yevgenny Ivanovich, 9-11, 96, 100,103,105
S
hishaev, Aleksandr, 130-131
Shvartzov, Nikolai Igoryevich, 73
Siberia (region), USSR:
collective farm, 25-27
(See also Omsk; Rubtsovsk)
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr:
works, 117-118, 149
Soviet Air Defense Command:
benefits and perquisites, 75-76
meals, 9,12
enlisted men’s, 97
physical examinations, 12-13
provisions issued, 11
Stalin, Joseph, 25, 37, 70, 117
tomb, 41
Steiner, Steven, 125-126, 128
Sukhanov, Yuri Nikolayevich, 65
Tank manufacture, 53-54, 55
Tass (Soviet news agency):
quoted, 133-134
Tikhoretsk, USSR, 72
Tokyo, Japan: Belenko’s
stay in, 114-122
True Communism, advent of, 29, 56
Tumansky, Sergei, 178
U-2s (aircraft), 178-179
Ukrainians (people), 99n
United States:
aircraft, 14, 73, 100, 156, 174, 175, 178-179, 185
Belenko in, 142-213
combat simulator, 182-183
medical care, 190-192
Soviet Army teachings
about, 67-69
Soviet lobbying in, 134-135, 227
United States: (continued) State Department, 126, 128, 130, 131, 165-167
Watergate scandal, 86-87
U.S. Air Force: fighter
base, 155-156
U.S. Navy: aircraft carrier, 161-164
Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Air Force and Navy (DOS-AAF),44
classes, 47-51
Vorontsov, Yuli, 135,165, 166-167
Vietnam:
My Lai massacre, 69
Wild Weasel pilots, 154-155
Virginia:
apartment, 155
bar, 158-159
countryside, 146
shopping center, 146-149
Volodin, Vladimir Stepanovich, 13
Watergate scandal: United States, 86-87
Wild Weasel pilots, 154-155
Yakov, Igor Andronovich, 45, 46, 47
Zeks (prisoners), 28-29, 95, 222
Photo Insert
Lt. Viktor Belenko’s Soviet MiG-25 jet interceptor at Hakodate Airport in northern Japan on September 6, 1976.
Japanese security officers guard the partly covered super-secret aircraft, which has slid to a halt after overshooting the runway. (ASAHI SHIMBUN PHOTO)