KGB illegals: who they were, how they were trained and real cases

Updated October 2026 · Volkov Protocol

Illegals were KGB officers who lived abroad as ordinary citizens, with an invented name, job and past, no diplomatic passport and no open link to the Soviet Union. They were run by Directorate S and were among the hardest spies to catch in the Cold War.

What is the difference between an illegal and a regular spy?

A legal spy works inside an embassy under official cover, as a diplomat. If exposed, he is expelled. An illegal has no immunity at all: if caught, he faces the courts of that country and can spend decades in prison. In return, nobody suspects him, because to everyone he is just a neighbor, a photographer or a real estate agent.

How did the KGB choose an illegal?

It looked for young, intelligent people with a gift for languages and strong nerves. Jack Barsky, for example, was approached in 1969 while still at university in East Germany.

How long did illegals train?

Years. Barsky went to Moscow in 1975 and trained two more years in the Soviet Union before arriving in Chicago in 1978. Preparation covered the language until the accent was gone, the legend memorized down to the smallest detail, secret communication and strict discipline, because one slip in daily routine could give everything away. The full content of these courses was never made public.

Where did the false identities come from?

Many came from children who died young. The name Jack Barsky belonged to a boy who died in 1955 at age 10, found on a grave in Maryland. With that child's birth certificate, the illegal obtained new papers and built an adult life on top of it.

Who were the most famous illegals?

• Rudolf Abel: lived in New York as a photographer, was arrested in 1957, sentenced to 30 years and exchanged in 1962 on a bridge between West Berlin and Potsdam. His story became the film Bridge of Spies (Britannica).
• Jack Barsky: worked for the KGB in the United States until 1988, was located by the FBI in 1994 and became a US citizen in 2014.
• Andrei Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova: lived as Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley. He earned a master's degree at Harvard, she sold real estate near Boston. They were arrested in 2010 and their sons say they knew nothing.

Do Russian illegals still exist?

Yes. In 2010 the FBI arrested ten Russian illegals in the United States and all went back to Moscow in a swap in Vienna. In 2024 the Dultsev couple, living in Slovenia as Argentines, returned in an exchange in Ankara and were met by Putin at the airport (CBS News, 2024). In Brazil, the Federal Police uncovered Russian military intelligence officers using Brazilian identities (PBS NewsHour, 2025).

The illegals in the Volkov Protocol

An illegal could not look like a soldier or be seen at a barracks. According to the story of the Volkov Protocol, that is where the colonel came in: the body had to hold up on a mission without a gym and without drawing attention. The protocol is on the home page. Read also who the KGB colonels were.