The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the last century was no less than a "hot war", with both economic, political, and military head-on contests, as well as secret rivalries; the United States and the Soviet Union sent spies to sabotage each other, especially the most dangerous crisis in the world- the "Cuban Missile Crisis." Although the crisis was finally lifted, it made all countries in the world sweat in a cold sweat. During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union held key hostages on both sides, both spies and intelligence personnel with a lot of intelligence and dissidents. Some of these people are in their own interests, and some are worthless. Therefore, some hostages were exchanged between each other, and the Soviet Union and the United States were often carried out privately, but they were not publicly reported.
In the 1970s, there was a joke in the Soviet Union: "In exchange for Corbaran, in exchange for a rogue, it is really pie in the sky, where to find such a thing?" ”。 Who are the Soviets from the hooligans? Who is pie? Why Exchange? How did it end?
"Rogue" vs. "Pie"
Bukovsky, a famous Soviet scholar, was a Soviet "reactionary" who was expelled from school at the age of 17 for "bad literature." Because Bukovsky was somewhat literate, but this man was extremely disgusted with the Soviet system, participated in many anti-Soviet rallies, and printed illegal publications, he was regarded as a "thorn in the side" by the Soviet authorities. Bukovsky was arrested for his involvement in four anti-Soviet activities, and the Soviets tried everything against Kovsky, sending him to a mental hospital in addition to prison. Brinkowski was imprisoned by the Soviets for 12 years since he opposed the Soviet authorities.
For such "hooligans" in the eyes of the Soviets, the strategy of the Western countries is to treat them as "treasures", so Brinkovsky has become the most favored figure of international human rights organizations, and the West can use Bukowski to blackmail the Soviet Union into violating human rights.
The "pie" in the eyes of the Soviets was not spy intelligence personnel, nor was it the scientific and technological personnel that the Soviet Union wanted. Instead, he was a "political prisoner", who was Corbaran, the secretary of Chile's G. In September 1973, The Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army, Pinochet, with the support of the United States, suddenly launched a military coup d'état, overthrowing the regime of Chilean President Allende and establishing a military junta. Pinochet's orders in the United States went on a killing spree, killing leftists and Chilean G-men, and Albaran, who was the secretary of Chilean G, was arrested and imprisoned. Korbaran was friends with Soviet leader Brezhnev and an object of Soviet support. Immediately after Corbaran was imprisoned, Brezhnev awarded him the Lenin Peace Prize.
So why did the "rogue" Bukovsky intersect with the "pie" Korbaran. The two did not intersect, only because the Soviet Union attached too much importance to the "pie" Korbalan, so there was a new life of "rogue" Brencoffs.
Hostage swap event
In 1976, Chilean Secretary G Corbaran was sent to prison by Pinochet, which attracted the attention of the Soviet Union. Igor Rebarkin, who was working in the Defense Coordination Department of the USSR at this time, was in charge of Korbaran's affairs. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Rebarkin revealed to the Russian newspaper "Arguments and Facts" that Pinochet knew the position of Korbaran in the hearts of the Soviets, so he wanted to exchange Korbalan for Soviet politicians to curry favor with the United States. Pinochet first instructed Chile's ambassador to the United States to report the matter to the Americans and to negotiate whether an exchange could take place. The United States contacted the Soviet Union, and the two sides agreed to exchange political prisoners.
But who to exchange for Corbaran? It was a headache for the Soviet Union at that time. The Soviets sorted out the political prisoners in custody and finally selected Bukovsky. Bukovsky was an anti-Soviet gangster in the eyes of the Soviet Union, not worth mentioning, but Bukovsky was very important in the eyes of the United States and other Western countries, so the Soviet Union decided to exchange this unimportant figure for Korbaran.
The Americans also agreed to exchange Korbaran for Bukovsky, and the United States and the Soviet Union finalized the exchange. According to Bukovsky in his memoirs, "On the morning of December 18, 1976, he woke up from his slumber when he heard the guards knocking on the door and saying to him: 'Pack up your personal belongings.'"
Bukovsky thought it was a change of cells, but Bukovsky vaguely felt a hint of foreboding, he thought that his death date had arrived. So he told the guards that his boots had been repaired and that he would not go out without them. But the guards told him he didn't need those torn boots.
Bukovsky was then put into a closed car, and Bukovsky did not know where to drag him to the death penalty. But after the car stopped, Bukowski realized that he had reached the airport. It turned out that this was a plan that had already been designed by the Soviet side.
According to Rebarkin's recollection, the Soviet leadership attached great importance to the hostage exchange and specially sent the newly established "Alpha" special forces of the Soviet Union to escort them. That is to say, Bukovsky was escorted by the "Alpha" special forces. Rebarkin had already led the men to wait at Chekalov Airport.
When the plane transporting Kovsky flew out of Soviet airspace, Bukovsky was handcuffed and he learned that the trip was deported. The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to exchange hostages in Geneva, Switzerland, and when the Soviet planes had not yet arrived in Geneva, reporters had already gathered at geneva airport, and soviet planes had to quietly land at Zurich airport. The Americans were also careful, and the Americans did not want Bukovsky to meet with Korbaran, so Bukovsky was taken away before Korbaran boarded the Soviet plane.
When Bukovsky was picked up, cars with American flags also arrived at the Soviet plane, alongside Korbaran, the American ambassador and Kolbaran's wife. It wasn't until Bukovsky went so far that the Americans were allowed to approach the plane. Since December 19 was Brezhnev's 70th birthday, the Soviets were to blame for fearing that the Korbaran exchange had robbed Brezhnev of the limelight. So the Soviet department gave Rebarkin an order to let Korbaran stay in Minsk for a while before going to Moscow.
On 23 December, Kolbaran received news of his trip to Moscow before flying to Moscow again. After arriving in Moscow, Korbaran was assigned to an apartment on Gorky Street. Soon after, Korbaran was informed to go to the Kremlin. When Korbaran saw Brezhnev, both were thrilled.
What was the end result?
As the protagonists of the famous hostage exchange event in the history of the Soviet-American Cold War, what was the final outcome of the two?
Let's start with Corbaran. Although Korbaran was well received by the Soviet side in the Soviet Union, after Brezhnev's death, Kolbaran did not want to stay in the Soviet Union, and he wanted to return to his homeland. Therefore, he asked the Soviet side to return home, and in 1983, the Soviet authorities agreed to Kolbaran's return, but asked Kolbaran to return secretly to prevent accidents.
To ensure safety, Korbaran decided to "make a makeover" and undergo a facelift. He underwent a smooth facial surgery at the Moscow hospital, his nose and eyelids were transformed, and Kolbaran had already sentenced the two of them.
After Corbaran recovered, he chose the route back to His country, and he decided to return to Chile from Argentina. Rebalkin asked him to take a Soviet flight, but as Budapest was near takeoff, Soviet intelligence agents discovered that the American singer Reed was also flying back to Chile in the plane. Because Reid has lived in Chile for a long time, he is familiar with Corbaran. The Soviets feared that Korbaran would be recognized. So after the plane took off, Reed was invited to the first class by the KGB, and the KGB personnel drank with him until Reed was drunk.
After Corbaran returned to Chile, he became anonymous and rarely went out. Later, after Pinochet's military regime stepped down, Corbaran began to appear in public. Corbaran later resigned as secretary, wrote books at home, and completed many works. In 2010, Colebaran died at the age of 95.
After Bukovsky arrived in the United States, he was also warmly welcomed by the United States, and the President of the United States also received Bukovsky. But the Bukovsky family did not have a good time in the United States at first, but then Bukovsky began to speak, wrote an autobiography, made a lot of money, and bought a house in Cambridge, England. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bukovsky dared to return to Russia, and it is said that he returned to Russia to run for president of Russia and to confront Putin. Although there is little hope, at least the presidential candidate can appear in front of the Russian people and remind them not to forget the former "hooligans".
Who is the winner?
On the surface, the "hostage exchange incident" between the Soviet Union and the United States was very successful, and both sides were very satisfied, and it seemed that they were both winners. But neither country won. Why?
Judging from the situation in the Soviet Union, after Korbaran returned to Chile, the Soviet Union soon entered the era of Gorbachev's reform in power, and Gorbachev's implementation of new thinking and "open" reforms disrupted the Soviet Union, and its main goal was to overthrow the Soviet system and achieve Westernization. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, during the Soviet Union's administration in Gorbachev, the Soviet strategic posture was in a state of contraction. Including the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the Soviet Union no longer had the energy to carry out the "Sovietization" movement in other countries of the world. Therefore, Korbaran was an indispensable figure to the Soviet Union, and later after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Korbalan did not play a role in Russia, and at this time the revolutionary movement in the entire Latin American region was also at a low ebb due to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
From the perspective of the United States, the United States may not know the real situation of Bukovsky, but when Bukovsky arrived in the United States, the United States found that this little literati was not their "dish" at all, and it was useless to leave it and abandon it as a pity. This is what makes Bukovs make money by writing speeches and books. Especially at the end of the eighties, the U.S. plan to dismantle the Soviet Union had been successful, and it was not Bukowski who played a role. Therefore, in the eyes of the Americans, Bukovsky was also a useless person.
Judging from the situation in the United States and the Soviet Union, in the "hostage exchange incident" that caused a sensation in the world in 1976, the United States and the Soviet Union were only competing for momentum and spent a lot of financial resources, and neither side was a winner.