Fulcrum

by Alexander Mikhaylovich Zuyev

  But the Turks were good to their word about my asylum. They forwarded my request to the American embassy in Ankara. And a week later I was flown to the capital under heavy guard. The Turks had been dealing with the Soviets for seventy years. They knew that the Organs of State Security were perfectly capable of assassinating me here in Turkey.

  Before I could be turned over to the Americans, however, there was one last formality to complete. The Soviet ambassador and his haughty KGB rezidant were brought to the heavily guarded guesthouse in the suburbs where I was staying. He tried to cajole me into returning to the Rodina, where I would receive medical treatment for both my physical wounds and the psychological stress that had provoked this unfortunate aberration. I knew all about such psychiatric treatment. I told him I was not interested.

  Next the ambassador opened his briefcase with a dramatic flourish. “Alexander Mikhailovich,” he said, “if you won’t consider your own welfare, at least think of your poor mother.” He slowly reached into the handsome leather case. “I have a letter from your mother, in which she appeals to you to return to the Motherland. I…”

  “Don’t waste our time with such ‘letters,’” I snapped. “They’re either forgeries or were forcibly obtained. I know my mother’s feelings about my welfare much better than you.”

  The ambassador glowered, then slammed shut his briefcase. His last ploy had failed.

  I was amazed how friendly and helpful the Turks were. For years I had been taught they were ruthless militarists, pawns of imperialists. But their kindness never stopped. The doctors were concerned about possible hidden damage to my skull and neck because of the constant headaches I was suffering. They arranged a CAT scan examination at the most modern hospital I had ever seen. The results were negative.

  Then one afternoon as I listened to the Russian language program on the Voice of America, I heard the announcement that the U.S. State Department had just granted me political asylum. I would be delivered to the Americans the next day.

  I stood in the warm breeze, watching the ravens sail up the thermal currents above the wheat fields. Even though I had not succeeded in delivering the MiG-29 and its missiles to NATO, my years of experiences with the fighter were certainly valuable.

  The American convoy approached along the narrow road from the east, a sedan and two security vans. Unlike their Turkish counterparts, the young American guards wore blue jeans. The ambassador climbed out of his sedan and shook my hand. Then he motioned for me to enter the backseat with him. I had never seen such a luxurious car. An interpreter with a foreign accent leaned over from the front seat to translate.

  “I would like you to confirm your request for political asylum in the United States,” the ambassador said cheerfully. He seemed like such a young man. In the Soviet bureaucracy no one his age could have advanced so high.

  I began to answer, but the ambassador interrupted, telling me to make the request formal by stating my full name.

  “I am Alexander Mikhailovich Zuyev,” I solemnly recited. “I want to live in the United States of America as a free man. I am asking for political asylum.”

  The ambassador smiled and shook my hand again. “Alexander Zuyev, you have been granted political asylum in the United States. Welcome to America.”

  * * *

  Northern Virginia,

  Christmas Day,

  December 25, 1991, 12:20 P.M.

  I stood on the soft carpet of my living room, gazing at the familiar television image of the red brick Kremlin walls. It was night in Moscow but a bright noon on this Christmas Day in Virginia. My little brother, Misha, now a tall, husky boy of ten, stared silently at the television screen.

  The night before, Misha had told me what his life had been like in Samara after my escape. The teachers at his school had publicly castigated the “brother of the traitor.” They encouraged older boys to beat him daily. He endured all that. Every night he came home from school and washed away the caked blood from his face before my mother saw him. He was determined to accept this suffering stoically. The KGB was pressuring my mother ruthlessly, and Misha did not want to add to her misery.

  As I had hoped, the KGB pressure on my family had been more of an annoyance than an actual menace. They had been questioned repeatedly, but not harmed in any way. Glasnost had protected them. And the rapidly changing political conditions in the Soviet Union had permitted them to request official authorization to emigrate without fear of retribution. Their first request for tourist visas to the West had been denied, as I assumed it would be. But then, in 1991, they finally managed to obtain refugee status, and the Soviet government reluctantly granted them exit visas. After several false starts, Mother, Valentin, and Misha had arrived at Kennedy Airport only ten days earlier, the best Christmas present I could imagine.

  My mother was cooking in the kitchen. I heard the electronic chime as she boldly investigated the mysteries of the microwave oven.

  The red hammer-and-sickle banner of the Soviet Union rippled in the floodlit wind above the Kremlin. The CNN announcer proclaimed the flag of the “former Soviet Union” was about to be lowered for the first time in seventy-four years. It would never rise again. That afternoon in Moscow, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev had delivered his resignation speech as the last President of the Soviet Union. He had then signed a decree transferring control of the former Soviet military to the Russian president, Boris Yeltsin.

  Waiting to watch the Soviet flag drop, I thought of the eventful thirty months that had passed since I had climbed into the ambassador’s sedan beside that Turkish wheat field.

  Before 1989 had ended, the Berlin Wall had crumbled. Communism began to die all across Eastern Europe. One by one the nations enslaved by the Soviet Empire threw out their Communist bosses and embraced democracy. And, after ten years of bloody struggle, all Soviet forces finally withdrew from Afghanistan.

  In the Soviet Union itself, however, Communism would take longer to die.

  But as I worked with my new American military colleagues, I was confident that the criminal clique that controlled my former country would one day be defeated. Meanwhile, I helped the American Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force prepare to defeat Soviet-trained Iraqi pilots flying Soviet-supplied fighters in the Persian Gulf War. One of the F-15C units I worked with destroyed five MiG-29s and over eleven MiG-23s and Sukhoi attack aircraft during Operation Desert Storm. Before I began assisting in the intense training of these American pilots, they had believed many of the comforting myths about obsolete Soviet equipment and tactics. But I had been able to convince them that the MiG-29 Fulcrum, armed with modern missiles and flown by a skilled pilot, represented a dangerous threat. They took my words to heart.

  During the five historic days of the failed coup d’etat in Moscow that August, I was pleased to learn that other military men had apparently taken my words to heart as well. I was able to broadcast a message on Radio Liberty, appealing directly to the Soviet officers and soldiers in the BMPs and armored cars on the streets of Moscow. I reminded them of the Tbilisi massacre and asked them to consider to whom they owed true loyalty, the Party bosses or the people. Perhaps these words made some difference. In any event, Soviet soldiers refused to obey orders to fire on civilians, or to storm the Russian Parliament to arrest Boris Yeltsin.

  And I was also able to influence my former colleagues in another unexpected way. The tape-recorded message I had left behind in my apartment at Tskhakaya had never been seized by the KGB. Instead, pilots from my regiment had found the tape before the Osobists. My friends had apparently passed the tape unofficially among their colleagues. One officer that I knew for certain had heard my message was Lieutenant General of Aviation Yevgeni Ivanovich Shaposhnikov, the deputy chief of staff of the Air Force, who led the official investigation into the hijacking. Shaposhnikov was a real reformer, a patriotic professional officer who knew where his true loyalties lay. After the failed coup, when Yazov and his Communist proteges in the Defense Ministry were disgraced, Gen
eral Shaposhnikov became the new Defense Minister.

  “Sasha,” my brother, Misha, said, tugging my sleeve. “Look.” The red hammer-and-sickle banner was sliding down the flagpole above the Kremlin ramparts. Mother came from the kitchen. Valentin stood up beside the Christmas tree. We watched in silence. Then the blue, red, and white banner of the Russian Republic rose in the Moscow wind.

  “Is it really over?” Mother asked. “Has it ended?"

  “Yes,” I answered, stretching my arms around my family. “It has finally ended.” I stared at the ancient flag of Russia. Where would all this really end? I spoke again. “It is over. But there is still so far to go.”

  Glossary

  Afghansti: A Soviet military veteran of the Afghanistan war.

  afterburner: A thrust augmentation system for jet engines, which sprays fuel to be ignited in the exhaust pipe.

  air brake: A movable flap to induce drag and decelerate an aircraft.

  AK-47: Avtomat-Kalashnikova: A Soviet 7.62 mm assault rifle designed by Kalashnikov.

  Akhtubinsk: One of the key Soviet air-test centers, located in the southern Russian Republic.

  AKM: A modernized version of the AK-47 assault rifle.

  Alamo missile: The Soviet R-27 radar-controlled Air-to-Air missile.

  An-12: A four-engine Antonov military transport, similar to the U.S. C-130.

  An-2 (Anushka): A slow, sturdy, single-engine Soviet biplane transport, often used to drop paratroops.

  angle of attack (AOA): The angular distance of an aircraft’s lifting surfaces (wings, etc.) above the horizontal.

  apparat: Soviet government bureaucracy. apparatohik: Soviet government bureaucrat.

  Archer missile: The Soviet R-73 infrared-homing Air-to-air missile.

  avos’ka: A string or plastic shopping bag; the ubiquitous symbol of the failed Soviet economy.

  AWACS: U.S. Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, which directs modern air battles.

  babushka: Russian, grandmother.

  bantia: Russian, criminal gang.

  Black Raven: The black van used by Stalin’s secret police to transport people under arrest.

  blat: Russian, “clout” or influence.

  BMP: A Soviet-designed, tracked armored personnel carrier.

  CAP: U.S. military acronym, Combat Air Patrol.

  chaff: Radar-blocking system employing clouds of thin aluminum strips, ejected in packets from a military aircraft. Crocodile (MiG-23): Soviet pilots’ slang for the MiG-23 fighter.

  dacha: Russian, “cottage,” size depends on status.

  DShK: A Soviet-designed 12.7mm machine gun, often used in air defense.

  Dushman: Russian, “bandit,” a derogatory term for the anti-Soviet Afghan resistance.

  Frontal Aviation Regiments: The fighter and fighter-bomber units of the Soviet Air Force.

  full military power: Maximum throttle setting short of afterburner, equal to 100 percent of normal engine power.

  G-force: The acceleration forces acting on an aircraft; “G” can be expressed as positive or negative, with 1 G being the aircraft’s normal resting weight.

  G-indicator: An instrument to measure the acceleration forces on an aircraft.

  G-suit: A protective garment worn by military pilots, which employs inflatable bladders to constrict the body and reduce blood flow away from the brain during high-performance maneuvers.

  GAZ: The generic term for many Soviet-design military vehicles, ranging from “jeeps” to heavy trucks.

  GCI: Ground Control Intercept: the air traffic control of military aircraft by ground-based radar operators.

  gorka: Russian, climb (aerial maneuver).

  Gosplan: The Soviet Central Planning Ministry.

  GSh-301: The 30 mm automatic cannon on the MiG-29 Fulcrum.

  Guards: An honorific title applied to certain Soviet military units, which have earned that distinction in battle. GULag: Soviet acronym, Central Administration for Corrective Labor Camps; made infamous by Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who coined the term, “gulag archipelago.”

  HMS: Soviet Helmet Mounted Sight.

  HUD: Head Up Display: an optical cockpit display, which projects crucial data on a transparent screen, which does not restrict the pilot’s view forward.

  Il-2: The Ilyushin “Shturmovik” fighter-bomber of World War II fame.

  Il-76: An Ilyushin Design Bureau four-engine military jet transport similar to the U.S. C-141.

  ILS: Instrument Landing System.

  IRST: Infrared Search and Track (targeting system).

  K-36D: A modern Soviet-design fighter aircraft ejection seat.

  Kalashnikov: The designer of the AK-47.

  KGB: Soviet Committee for State Security, the secret police.

  kolkhoz: Russian, collective farm.

  kollectiv: Russian, the Communist and “worker” members of any Soviet organization.

  Kolyma: An infamous Soviet mining labor camp in the Far East of Siberia.

  Komsomol: The Soviet Young Communist Party Organization.

  krug: Russian, a horizontal, circular aerial maneuver.

  kursant: Russian, a military cadet.

  L-29: A Czech-design single-engine jet trainer.

  LA-17: A rocket-powered aerial target drone.

  laser range finder: A measuring device using laser light to calculate distance.

  Lenin Room: A part of a Soviet military barracks reserved for troops’ reading and propaganda.

  look-down, shoot-down radar: A pulse-Doppler fighter radar system that can track low-flying enemy targets normally masked by the ground below.

  Mach: The speed of sound at any given atmospheric altitude and temperture.

  Makarov: Designer of the standard Soviet semi-automatic 9mm handgun; the gun itself.

  malchi-malchi; “Hush-hush"; often applied to nuclear weapons procedures in the Soviet military.

  Mi-8: A Mikoyan Design Bureau troop-carrying helicopter; forerunner of the Mi-24 troop carrier assault gunship.

  microrayon: Russian, a State-planned housing project, often in isolated suburban areas.

  MiG: Soviet acronym for Mikoyan and Gureyvich Design Bureau, the most successful Soviet military aircraft builder, known in later years simply as the “Mikoyan Design Bureau.”

  MiG-21FM; The two-seat trainer version of the Mikoyan Design Bureau MiG-21.

  MiG-23UB: The two-seat trainer version of the Mikoyan Design Bureau MiG-23.

  MiG-29: The Mikoyan OKB’s first “fourth generation” fighter, equal in performance to U.S. F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft; NATO designation, Fulcrum.

  MVD: Soviet acronym, Ministry of the Interior.

  nakal: Russian, standby.

  NKVD: Soviet acronym, People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the predecessor of the KGB, Stalin’s main “organ” of terror and repression.

  NO-193: The pulse-Doppler radar on the MiG-29.

  nomenklatura: The official elite of Soviet society, whose positions were listed on secret registries.

  oblast: Soviet designation for local district, corresponding to American county.

  OKB: Soviet acronym for military design bureau, often named for the chief designer.

  ogon: Russian, firing (a weapon).

  OMON: Soviet acronym for Interior Ministry special troops, the infamous Black Berets.

  Osobii Otdel: “Special Department,” the KGB counterespionage division assigned to all units of the Soviet military.

  Osobist: A member of the Osobii Otdel.

  P-39: The Bell Air Cobra fighter of World War II; under Lend Lease it was the Soviet Kobra.

  Partkom: Soviet acronym, Party Committee, of any civil or military organization.

  Pilot tube: A pressure-sensitive instrument to measure an aircraft’s airspeed.

  Po-2: A Soviet World War II biplane night bomber.

  podyezd: Russian, staircase (the entrance of an apartment building wing).

  poligon: Soviet acronym, a weapons testing ra
nge.

  ponyal: Russian, “Roger,” message acknowledged.

  pusk: Russian, “Launch.”

  prezant: Russian slang, a small bribe.

  pulse-Doppler radar: Radar that identifies and tracks moving targets; its ability to “lock” onto an enemy aircraft can be “broken” by maneuvers that cancel the relative differential speeds between the aircraft involved.

  PVO: Soviet Air Defense Forces.

  RC-135: U.S. military version of the Boeing 707, which has many aerial tanker and electronic intelligence variants.

  RD-33: The standard turbofan engine of the MiG-29.

  RDF: Radio Direction Finding instruments, variations of the standard “radio compass.”

  Redeye: A U.S. infrared-homing antiaircraft missile.

  RN-40: A tactical Soviet nuclear bomb.

  Rodina: Russian, “Motherland.”

  RPM: Revolutions Per Minute, usually engine speed.

  rubege: Russian, range (distance to target).

  Ruslan: Soviet military designation for the Tskhakaya Air Base in Georgia.

  shlem: Russian, helmet.

  Shturmovik: Russian, “fighter-bomber.”

  Spetsnaz: Russian acronym, “special purpose troops.”

  split-S: An air-combat maneuver involving a steep descent and reverse of direction, partially inverted.

  SPO-15: A Soviet military aircraft radar-warning receiver.

  SRZO: A Soviet “Information Friend or Foe” instrument.

  stall-limiter: An automatic mechanical system actuated when a fighter surpasses a maximum angle-of-attack and loses aerodynamic lift and “stalls.” The stall-limiter thrusts the control stick forward to reduce AOA.

  Su-25: A Sukhoi Design Bureau attack jet similar to the U.S. A-10.

  Su-27: A Sukhoi Design Bureau multipurpose military jet aircraft. The Su-27 has higher performance than the MiG-29, but is also larger and heavier.

  supersonic: Air speeds above Mach 1.0.

  tochka opori: Russian, “fulcrum."