Escape of Pirogov and Barsov

• Peter Afanasevich Pirogov (Eng. Peter A. Pirogov , ^{[K 2]} December 23, 1920, pp. Koptevo , Rasskazovsky District , Tambov Province , RSFSR - February 28, 1987, , Washington, DC , USA) - navigator pilot, lieutenant . Russian nationality. Already in the USA, he attributed his studies at the Tambov Pedagogical Institute , although it is not known whether he really studied there. It is reliably known that he served in the Red Army since 1939, was called up by the Bondar District Military Commissariat after he attributed to himself one year. After graduating from navigators, he was transferred to the current unit with the rank of junior lieutenant. During the war years he performed mainly the tasks of aerial reconnaissance and aerial photography of the territory occupied by the enemy on a Pe-3bis plane; in his own words, made more than one hundred sorties , ^{[K 3]} He served as part of the 59th Aviation Regiment of the 34th Bomber Aviation Division (stationed in Primorye , in the Daubikha Valley). Since the summer of 1942, some of them were used to carry out reconnaissance missions in Manchuria , directly along the then Soviet-Japanese border, when the Soviet command had reason to expect a preventive strike by Japanese forces ^[4] . On the Soviet-German front, it made reconnaissance flights in the near and deep rear of the enemy, over the cities of Breslau , Cottbus , Gerlitz , Dresden , Prague , Olomouc , Bratislava , Vienna , Leipzig , Chemnitz and others; in total, according to official figures, he conducted reconnaissance of 65 cities, 105 railway junctions and stations, 36 airfields, not counting other military installations and concentration of enemy troops. The war ended with a Letnab as part of the 98th Separate Guards Air Regiment with the rank of Lieutenant Guard. In the postwar period he served in the 63rd Bomber Aviation Regiment . From the war years until his flight he was a candidate member of the CPSU (b) . He was awarded the Order of the Red Star , the Order of the Patriotic War II degree and medals ^{[5] [6]} . In the last place of the quarters was a cohabitant , with whom he parted before escape for personal reasons ^{[7] [8]} .
   

  Excerpt from the Pirogov Permanent Residency Act . United States Law Collection, Volume 68, Page A45
  While in the United States, in 1950 he published an autobiographical book of memoirs, “Why I Escaped: The Story of Pyotr Pirogov.” Due to the fact that Pirogov was a candidate for membership in the CPSU (b), he was initially denied naturalization - the relevant legislative restrictions for former communists prevented the US Immigration Service from positively resolving the issue of granting him citizenship until the US Congress adopted on May 6 1954 Law No. 347, On the Provision of Permanent Residence in the United States to Peter A. Pirogov. He got a job as a house painter , and then opened his own business to provide repair services for private households and various repairs. The first time after arriving in the United States, he lived in New York , later moved to Washington , where he was invited to work in a field close to his former military specialty, as an aerial data analysis specialist at the research units of the Library of Congress (in his work on they were interested in this position in the US Air Force , whose staff helped him get a job as a person of “special value to national interests ”) ^[9] and was invited several times to speak in congressional committees on various issues. However, in the wake of McCarthyism, the US Congress passed legislative restrictions on employment in state institutions for former members of “communist and other totalitarian parties and organizations,” ^{[K 4]} which he once was, and since he worked in the Library of Congress (the federal institution preparing the information analytical materials for the country's top leadership) was associated with access to information containing state and military secrets , Pirogov was fired. He changed several professions, among other things, worked as a taxi driver , lived in Alexandria ^[10] . Then they remembered him and invited him to write the texts of radio programs for Radio Liberation, an American radio station broadcasting to socialist countries . In this field, he showed such business acumen and political abilities that he was even elected the head of one of the emigrant anti-communist organizations. He was awarded a public award by the Freedom Foundation (non-governmental organization) - . In 1963, Pirogov graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in linguistics with a master ’s degree and became a research fellow at the Georgetown University School of Languages ​​and Linguistics, where he worked as a teacher of humanities until his retirement in 1986. Settled with his family nearby in Stafford , Virginia , an hour's drive from the university. His last scientific position is an associate professor . He died in 1987, at the age of 66, from an aneurysm . His family remained in the USA: his wife, Valentina Pirogova (Russian, was born and raised in the USA, from among the children of pre-revolutionary emigrants, married in the early 1950s), in a marriage with which he had three daughters: Valentina (Parker married) , Nina and Tamaru ^[11] .

• Anatoly Porfiryevich Barsov (Eng. Anatole Barsov , April 24, 1917, village of Staro-Almetyevo , Chistopol district , Kazan province , Russian Empire - 1950 (?), Place of death unknown , USSR ) - pilot, senior lieutenant . Russian nationality. Born in the family of the postmaster of Chistopol. His father is a hereditary nobleman (Porfiry Borzov), which he preferred to hide in Soviet times. Got an excellent secondary home education. He graduated from a factory apprenticeship school , during which he was simultaneously trained in an aero club . In the Red Army since 1938. He was called up by the Kazan RVC. With the outbreak of war he was in the reserve unit, and since 1943 in the current unit of the Air Force as a pilot. During the years of the war he carried out air reconnaissance missions, bombing sorties, and also sorties to dump campaign materials over the occupied territories. He carried out approaches to reconnaissance targets in difficult weather conditions at low and extremely low altitudes, with a high risk for himself, and came under fire from the enemy’s anti-aircraft artillery and fighter aircraft , displaying persistence and courage (according to official award materials). He was especially distinguished during the military operations in the Baltic states , among the objects of intelligence were the settlements of Võru , Valga , Tapa , Viljandi , Cesis , Valmiera , Ostrov , Rezekne , Jekabpils , Madona , Gulbene , Aluksne , Krustpils . There is no documented combat score. The war ended with a pilot as part of the 47th Guards. long-range reconnaissance aircraft regiment of the High Command of the Red Army with the rank of guard lieutenant. Member of the CPSU (b) since 1943. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner ^[12] . The press suggested that in the USSR remained his common-law wife and four-year-old son, but there was no reliable data on his marital status ^[8] . From the moment of the flight and during his life in the USA he kept a diary , which, after his departure, was translated into English and published. After a year in the United States, believing the assurances of Soviet diplomatic officers that he was awaiting amnesty, he decided to return. Information on the fate of the future in the USSR varies depending on the sources. Soviet defectors from among the employees of the MGB-KGB, including Vladimir Petrov , argue that the real Bars was sentenced to capital punishment in absentia (that is, even before returning to the USSR) and shot within six months or a year upon arrival ^{[13] [14 ] ]} . For the successful operation to return the fugitive, all participating employees of Soviet diplomatic institutions were awarded state awards. To return Barsov to the Soviet authorities, he was taken there to Linz, where they landed a year ago, and handed over to the arrivals ^[15] . Pirogov later writes in his memoirs that in their last meeting Barsov told him that he missed his native places and wanted to go home. According to Pirogov, his friend was not ready for such a sharp change in lifestyle (or "for freedom," as Pirogov himself calls it). From youth, having gotten used to the system of relations “subordinates - superiors” and having served ten years in the ranks, where everything is subject to the charters and the routine, he suddenly found himself on his own and was simply confused in a situation of such vast freedom of choice, incomprehensible to him and giving rise to uncertainty and uncertainty ^{[2] [16]} . According to Petrov, Barsov was placed on arrival at the Central Tagan transit prison , where he spent about eight months, after he ceased to be of interest to the investigating authorities as a source of information, he was shot in the spring of 1950. Petrov later published these data in his memoirs ^[17] . Official Soviet propaganda , starting in 1957, claimed that Barsov remained alive and embarked on the path of correction ^{[13] [18]} . There is a version according to the report of his nephew living in Kazan that after returning to the USSR he lived in the city of Chemkent and definitely came to visit his own sister in the village of Kornoukhovo in 1964, which is a family photograph. Then he returned to his family in Chemkent.
• Unidentified third crew member (data not available) - airborne gunner, sergeant . He expressed a desire to return to the USSR shortly after the arrival of Soviet representatives at the airport, the further fate is unknown ^[8] .

Pirogov in his memoirs described in detail and in detail the reasons that pushed them with Barsov to escape. He began his story by joining the Communist Party as a faithful Leninist, gradually becoming more and more disillusioned with the Soviet system ^[19] . As Pirogov later noted in interviews and memoirs, an atmosphere of fear and terror that reigned in their military unit and in the troops as a whole, provoked by its decomposition on moral grounds, which began even during the war and manifested in general drunkenness, prompted them to escape. military discipline, harassment of the female population of the territories occupied by them and other phenomena ^[20] . According to him, a sense of hopelessness was facilitated by events such as the arrest of Soviet counterintelligence who escaped from German captivity and independently found their part of the pilots Puchkin and Ivanov, ^{[21] [22]} - after this and a number of other incidents of this kind, there were cases of evasion or open failure of veterans of the flight crew from performing sorties (due to unwillingness to be captured, and in the event of a successful flight from there - straight to Soviet camps). ^[20] The memoirs also reflect their own experience of communication between Pirogov and other military personnel of their unit with Smersha officers, ^[23] as well as the memories of the air parade over Red Square as part of the 63rd Bomber Aviation Regiment , ^[24] from which removed a number of their acquaintances (with subsequent dismissal from the ranks of the armed forces and imprisonment in places of detention) and which was the apogee of propaganda so hated by them ^[25] . Security measures in preparation for the parade were truly colossal and, as Pirogov was convinced, reflected the distrust and fear on the part of the Soviet leadership towards their own population, which only intensified during the war ^[26] . According to Pirogov, immediately after the war ended, the victory was stolen from the people and appropriated by the “Lenin-Stalin party”. ^{[K 5]} Regarding the elections and other forms of popular expression in the USSR, Barsov told Western journalists that this was all profanity ^[8] .

Among the observations made during their service in a group of Soviet occupation forces, a story is given of how their colleague from a nearby bomber regiment, also from former front-line soldiers, married a Polish woman who insisted that they get married in a local Roman Catholic church . The groom first resisted this, and then agreed. Two days after the wedding, he was called "to Moscow" and he never returned to the regiment ^[22] . Their other fellow pilot Vladimir Malyshev, transferred to their unit from the reserve air regiment, was brought by the special department to suicide, which, at the instigation of the division commissioner , they wanted to blame on Pirogov ^[28] . The classlessness of Soviet society (one of the pillars of Soviet ideology ), even in a military environment, is called into question by it. Class inequality in the troops manifested itself even in trifles. So, if he and his fellow pilots up to and including the division commander smoked a shag wrapped in a piece of newspaper (they simply didn’t have other tobacco products) and all were dressed in worn-out patched uniforms, then the state security officials were special and tornados, with whom he happened to meet — by their very appearance they made the impression of a well-fed rear life, wore individual tailoring jackets, smoked expensive cigarettes and cigarettes , imported “ Camel ” and Soviet “ Kazbek ” brands, - neither one nor the other could be bought to be in Soviet stores ^{[29] [30]} . This is despite the fact that Pirogov, being an aviation officer, in his own words, “lived like a king” in comparison with ordinary military personnel ^[8] .

In addition, Pirogov had to part with his lover, as he foresaw the imminent arrest and did not want her to suffer because of him ^[31] . This and other cases served as a point of no return for them, after which he and Barsov decided to fly to the West, and Pirogov was the “engine” in their team, who noticed Barsov because of the explosive nature of the latter and his regular conflicts with his superiors ^[32] . They met in March 1947, Barsov was a flight commander and was respected among the junior officer and sergeant-sergeant officers ^[33] . They met just at the time of Barsov’s audience with the bosses, where he didn’t sit silently, but directly expressed everything he thought about them - in the evening a group of “politically irresponsible” gathered at the table, Barsov picked up his guitar and tightened “ Black eyes ". ^[34] In July 1947, their regiment was withdrawn from Germany, ^[35] part was relocated to Western Ukraine and was in Galicia ^[36] . The choice of the American zone as the final destination was not accidental. During the war years they were regularly told that the Americans were the main allies of the USSR in the fight against Nazi Germany, and immediately after the war, a campaign of overt anti-Americanism began . ^[27] They regularly attended political classes , which were lectures of anti-American propaganda, on which, he said, they were “hammered into the head” by common cliches and cliches about the “decaying capitalism” and “oppressed working class” of America in general and the West in whole. ^[37] Meanwhile, the propaganda lecturers themselves did not believe this, and the more primitive the propaganda, the greater interest in America arose among the military, and they both secretly listened to the Russian-language broadcasts of Voice of America radio (as it was punishable) and already decided for themselves where they should go ^[38] . They didn’t agree on a specific escape day, deciding that they would fly away if one of them decided and said to the other “On the course!” - it doesn’t matter whose initiative it will be, - the second will answer “On the glide path!”. ^{[K 6]} This will be a conditional signal to escape. So they got a password and a review, and the plan of their risky event matured ^[39] .

According to Pirogov, he was encouraged to fly by a successful flight to Turkey from the Grozny flight school a year earlier ^[31] . As it turned out later, their fears were not in vain; Pirogov dealt with surveillance materials, denunciations of his colleagues and the conclusion of a special department about his “moral corruption” and “unreliability”. ^[40]

In the British journal Spectator , it was noted that Pirogov’s memoirs perfectly reflect the Russian mentality and psychology, the specifics of the Soviet system and Soviet society ^[41] . In the American "Review Review" it was noted that his memoirs were "a fresh look at the Soviet system from the inside." ^{[2] The} American Legion recommended Pirogov’s memoirs as a necessary reading book for all his members, for a better understanding of the mentality of the Russian military ^[42] .

On October 9, 1948 (Saturday), pilots Pyotr Pirogov and Anatoly Barsov flew on a Tu-2 bomber of the USSR Air Force from Kolomyya air base ( Kolomyya , Stanislavskaya oblast , Ukrainian SSR ) to Austria , and landed at the Camp McCowley American airfield Vogler Air Base in the Allied zone of occupation , within the boundaries of Hörsching (a suburb of Linz ). The flight route and fuel calculations were prepared by Pirogov, who calculated that if successful they would be able to get to Linz ^[43] . The navigational problem was that the secret cards that provided part of them covered only the territory of the USSR, the territory of neighboring states was withdrawn from maps in order to avoid incidents of this kind (although, in the event of a new war, they had to act on a completely unknown border territory, but this aspect worried the Soviet leadership to a lesser extent than the prospect of pilots fleeing to the West). ^[8] In the event of a navigational error or emergency landing, they prepared to cover the remaining distance to the allied zone of occupation on foot ^[44] . Before departure, Barsov prudently insisted that they be refueled with fuel tanks for more than one hour of flight (which was supposed for training flights). ^[45] Barsov's insistence was not unfounded, - the fuel in the tanks ran out of air. Friends were going to make an emergency landing on the water, but then Barsov noticed the airfield and reached the runway ^[46] . During the landing Pirogov noticed a five-pointed star on one of the buildings and had already panicked, deciding that they were landing on the territory of Austria occupied by Soviet troops, but it was too late, the chassis had already touched the surface of the runway and there was no fuel to continue the flight, and the star, as it later turned out, belonged to the US Air Force ^[47] .

The first words of Pirogov on the landing strip were what he said in broken English: “I is Russian pilot! Where is Lintz? ” ^[48] (“ I am a Russian pilot. Where is Linz? ”). ^{[K 7]} Soon after landing, representatives of the High Commissioner in Austria from the USSR, Army General V.V. Kurasov , arrived at the meeting and invited the pilots to return voluntarily. A third crew member (an airborne gunner in a sergeant rank) flew with them on the plane, who was informed of the true purpose of the flight already in the air and who, after talking with Kurasov's representatives, expressed a desire to immediately return to the USSR. Pirogov and Bars were warned of responsibility, but refused to return ^[8] . The American occupation authorities in Germany granted them political asylum. ^[48] Since the maintenance of defectors from socialist countries was not yet properly regulated by American law, Pirogov and Barsov were at the American air base in the status of foreign officers with an unofficial visit (visiting foreign officers). On an official request from the Soviet authorities, demanding the return of the aircraft and the pilots, the American side replied that the plane could be returned immediately, and the Americans did not directly refuse the pilots, evasively saying that they would not use force to return them back. According to press statements, there was secret on-board radio-electronic equipment on board the aircraft that had not previously fallen into the hands of the Western Allies. On October 20, a group of Soviet aircraft mechanics arrived at the Fogler airbase, who, with the help of American troops, disassembled the plane and organized its transportation to the Soviet zone ^[8] .

The flight of Pirogov and Barsov entailed an investigation and organizational measures. A peculiar form of mutual responsibility acted in the USSR of the Stalin era , where the responsibility for such incidents was assigned primarily to relatives and family members of traitors (in accordance with Article 58-1v of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR ), ^{[49] [50]} and also to their immediate superiors and counterintelligence personnel ^[40] . Regarding the Air Force as a whole, organizational measures were expressed in the removal from flight, or in the transfer to service in areas of the country remote from the state border of persons who fell into the category of unreliable. The interception facilities ( fighter aviation forces) did not have time to react to the escape in time, since the flight zone was in the border region, which in turn entailed the change of flight zones and basing airfields inland from the borders, in order to exclude the possibility of pilots flying on airplanes during training flights. Оперативно-технические мероприятия профилактического характера выражались в усилении группы привлечённых средств радиоэлектронного подавления частот вещания зарубежных радиостанций. Поскольку спрос с военных контрразведчиков за предотвращение фактов перехода, а особенно перелёта советских военнослужащих в западные зоны Германии и Австрии был довольно жёстким, по итогам расследования обстоятельств инцидента к уголовной ответственности привлекли начальника отдела контрразведки МГБ дивизии и оперуполномоченного , отвечавшего за контрразведку в полку. Их обвинили в том, что они информировали командование «о моральном разложении» Пирогова, но не добились отстранения его от полётов ^[40] .

В дальнейшем, организационные мероприятия, предпринятые по итогам расследования обстоятельств побега Пирогова и Барсова, продемонстрировали определённую эффективность. Когда через семь лет после случившегося, в начале 1956 года, была предпринята аналогичная попытка угнать в Австрию бомбардировщик Ту-2, самолёт был перехвачен в пути поднятыми по тревоге истребителями МиГ-15 ^[51] .

Через четыре месяца пребывания в Австрии вопросы относительно их переезда в США были решены и 4 февраля 1949 года они прибыли в США, где им был предоставлен вид на жительство ^[52] . В США делами беглецов занимался Государственный департамент , поскольку Пирогов только осваивал английский язык, а Барсов вообще не проявлял интереса к изучению языка в стране пребывания, в ходе официальных встреч и визитов их сопровождала переводчица от Госдепартамента (Эллен Гавришефф ) и русскоговорящий сотрудник Разведуправления армии США ^[53] . В интервью журналу « Лайф » пилоты признались, что они оба слушали американские радиопередачи на русском и мечтали побывать в Виргинии , что им в итоге удалось, — им устроили поездку на автомобиле по американской глубинке, где они пили « кока-колу », играли в пинбол , общались с местными общественными и политическими деятелями, фермерами и негритянскими музыкантами, русскими эмигрантами первой волны и дореволюционными русскими эмигрантами, уже образовавшими в Виргинии свои поселения ^[54] . В процессе поездки им устроили встречу с губернатором штата . Путешествуя по Виргинии, друзья посетили города и населённые пункты Александрия , Ричмонд , Лексингтон , Нэйчурал-Бридж (и одноименную достопримечательность ), Роанок , Линчберг , Суит-Брайар , Ньюпорт-Ньюс , Уильямсберг , Шарлотсвилл , Харрисонберг , Лурей , Фредериксберг , Йель , а также фермы, придорожные закусочные и объекты общепита на автодорогах. Затем, их пригласили выступить по-русски в эфире цикла передач радиостанции « Голос Америки », вещавшей на СССР и соцстраны ^[53] . В Лексингтоне они стали почётными гостями баскетбольного матча университетских команд « Мэриленд-Тёрпс » и « Вашингтон-энд-Ли-Дженералс » ^[55] .

В США они научились говорить по-английски и давали интервью западным СМИ ^[56] . Во время интервью и различных встреч по-настоящему «говорящим» в их тандеме был Пирогов, Барсов же по привычке больше молчал и курил. В отличие от предприимчивого Пирогова, который быстро освоился на новом месте и всячески стремился влиться в американское общество, Барсов был меланхоличен, регулярно и много пил, добывая алкоголь даже у журналистов, которые прибывали к ним для интервью ^[57] . Пирогов даже пристыдил однажды старшего товарища, заявив ему: «Ты что? И впрямь думаешь, что мы улетели ради того, чтобы пьянствовать и чтобы иностранцы за рубежом считали, что все русские сплошь одна пьянь?», — но к пущему его сожалению на Барсова это не подействовало, он продолжал пить и дебоширить ^[58] . Однажды, во время их поездок, ему удалось улизнуть из-под бдительного ока Пирогова (вылез через окно и спрыгнул со второго этажа), напиться и попасть в местный бордель . Лишь изредка он брал в руки гитару, пел романтические песни о любви и Пирогов узнавал в нём того самого Барсова, которого знал ещё в период их службы ^[59] .

После того, как в 1949 году для консолидации представителей советских эмигрантских кругов левого толка (второй волны эмиграции, перебежчиков и невозвращенцев) в США была образована «Лига борьбы за народную свободу» (ЛБНС), Пирогов с Барсовым были приглашены вступить в её состав в качестве членов. В дальнейшем Барсов состоял в ней чисто формально, а Пирогов проявил деятельное участие в работе организации ^[60] .

Между тем, возник вопрос юридического характера, связанный с их советским гражданством . Поскольку исходно Пирогову и Барсову были оформлены временные визы для проживания в США, по истечении которых им грозило выпровождение из США в Западную Германию и проживание там на правах перемещённых лиц , им требовалось либо продлевать их временные визы, либо получать вид на жительство . Так или иначе, уже 4 февраля 1949 года им был предоставлен вид на жительство на законных основаниях ^[53] .

Тем временем, к обоим лётчикам, как советским гражданам, по протоколу были допущены сотрудники советского посольства, — Пирогов от контактов с ними наотрез отказался, а Барсов проявил интерес к вестям с родины. Чрезвычайный и полномочный посол СССР в США генерал-майор госбезопасности А. С. Панюшкин ^{[К 8]} лично гарантировал Барсову амнистию в случае возвращения вместе с товарищем или максимум два года тюрьмы в случае возвращения в одиночку ^[62] . Спустя полгода их пребывания Анатолий Барсов, поверив заверениям сотрудников посольства о том, что в случае возвращения его ждёт амнистия, собрался возвращаться ^[63] . 7 августа 1949 года, незадолго перед отъездом Барсова, Пирогов попытался переубедить его: «Пристрелят они тебя, Толя, как собаку». ^{[К 9]} Пирогова переубедить не удалось, он остался на Западе ^[15] (поскольку считал любые обещания советских должностных лиц ложью по определению, что в итоге и спасло его от расстрела) ^[65] .

В 1950 году, книга воспоминаний Пирогова, написанная им на русском, была переведена на английский язык писательницей Адой Сегал ^[66] и опубликована сначала в США (нью-йоркским изд. Duell, Sloan and Pearce), затем в Великобритании (лондонским изд. Harvill Press). Позже на средства Администрации международной информации США она была переведена на французский , ^[67] китайский , ^[68] гуджаратский , ^[69] хинди , ^[70] маратхи ^[71] и другие языки мира.

С 1955 года возобновились попытки советской стороны добиться добровольного возвращения Пирогова, 8 марта 1957 года с Пироговым связались по телефону сотрудники советского посольства, которые договорились с ним о встрече со 2-м секретарём посольства Геннадием Макшанцевым на 11 марта. Макшанцев заявил, что после смерти Сталина в стране всё изменилось, что Барсов жив и что Пирогов может возвращаться в СССР, в подтверждение чего вручил ему письмо от его старого друга. Пирогов после ознакомления с письмом утверждал, что это однозначно подделка и хотя почерк был похожим на почерк реального Барсова, стиль текста очень отличался от известного ему и написано оно было литературным языком без единой грамматической ошибки, что было весьма нетипично для того малограмотного Барсова, которого он знал. Более того, по словам Пирогова Барсов, при том, что на Западе все звали его именно так, а не иначе, сам никогда по-русски не подписывался «Барсов», вместо этого использовал свою настоящую фамилию «Борзов», что подкрепило версию о подделке письма советскими органами госбезопасности ^{[64] [72]} . 17 апреля того же года Госдепартамент США попросил указанного дипломата удалиться из страны за попытки убеждения ряда бывших советских граждан в необходимости возвращения в СССР предположительно с использованием подложных документов ^{[72] [73]} .

15 мая 1957 года в Центральном доме журналиста в Москве состоялась пресс-конференция на которой человек, представившийся Анатолием Борзовым, заявил, что получил 5 лет лишения свободы, которые он провёл в ИТЛ в Омске и Воркуте , и вышел на свободу в сентябре 1954 года. Также он заявил, что в США царит безработица и унижение человеческого достоинства ^{[18] [74]} . В США данное событие расценили как пропагандистский ход с советской стороны в ответ на высылку дипломата, а саму информацию о чудесном «воскрешении» Барсова, учитывая количество осужденных лиц лишь косвенно причастных к случившемуся, сочли недостоверной ^[13] .

По словам упомянутого выше Владимира Петрова, сбежавшего в апреле 1954 года, сотрудники советского дипломатического аппарата в США знали о том, что Барсов приговорён к высшей мере наказания заочно, но никто не сообщил ему об этом ^[13] .

• Why I Escaped: The Story of Peter Pirogov. — NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1950. — 336 p.
• List of Books Published in Foreign Translation Under the Department's Book Translation Program Since July 1, 1950, as of March 9, 1953: Statement of Richard A. Humphrey, Acting Assistant Administrator, International Information Center Service . / Overseas Information Programs of the United States: Hearings. — Aprill 22, 1953. — 1642 p.
• Testimony of Peter Pirogov, as Interpreted by Constantine Grigorovich-Barsky . / Scope of Soviet Activity in the United States: Hearings. — June 13, 1956. — Pt. 25 — 1430 p.
• Krasnov, Vladislav . Soviet Defectors: The KGB Wanted List . — Stanford, Carolina: Stanford University , Hoover Institution Press , 1985. — 264 p. — (Hoover Press Publication 323) — ISBN 0-8179-8231-0 .
• Huygens, Etienne . Return to the Motherland. A Study on Redefection and Reemigration to Soviet bloc countries . — Washington, DC: Jamestown Foundation, August 1987. — 583 p.
• Дроздов С. В. Когда мечта становится явью… (Угоны ЛА военного и двойного назначения советской разработки, случаи попадания в руки потенциального противника). // Крылья Родины . — М., август 2014. — № 8 — ISSN 0130-2701.