As a rule, recruitment agents takes intelligence time consuming and requires considerable financial investments. The Finance sometimes you can save money if the agent works for the idea. Time well saved, if the person himself wished to become an agent. This was the case with Stig Bellingham, Swedish counterintelligence, who wished to work on the USSR.

The nest egg for a rainy day

Colleagues did not like the Stig Berlin-ha He too loved expensive suits, good drinks and beautiful women generously bestowed, and led to expensive restaurants - not the most exemplary way of life for employees of special services. Moreover, it was rumoured that the Stig is engaged in the smuggling.

The service career of Burgling began in 1968 in Cyprus, where he was sent as the security officer of the Swedish battalion UN peacekeeping forces. At that time he was the 32nd year. Soon Stig transferred to SAPO - Swedish security police, where he was engaged in counter-intelligence operations. He was involved in the surveillance of the Soviet military attache.

In Sweden were strong right-wing political forces. Berlingo since the study did not like that it formally neutral country openly cooperating with NATO. In Sweden from training in the United States was returning teachers, which included the exercise of American military marches and led the proper propaganda among the students. But the quality of work of the Soviet of the Main intelligence Directorate aroused Bergling the deepest respect.

In April 1971 Stig was assigned to the security service headquarters

defense of the armed forces of Sweden. At this time he was allowed to work with highly sensitive documents. Including card Swedish fortifications. For instructions, it relied every day to take on receipt and on the same day to pass. It was uncomfortable, and the authorities allowed Berlingo be removed from the map copy and keep it on your desktop.

Then he came up with the idea to postpone the top-secret document, as they say in Sweden, on a rainy day. Together with other top secret documents he put the card in a folder, put it in the portfolio and quietly passed the guard. The folder with the documents he had hidden in his Bank cell, and then quietly went to serve in the middle East as a platoon commander of the international police stationed in the Sinai Peninsula. Soon Bergling transferred to Lebanon officer UN troops.

Under the sun of Beirut

Before the trip to the East of Burgling met in Stockholm with a girl named Inger Starr. She was older than him, married to a wealthy architect, which gave birth to four children, and dreamed of adventure. Began a whirlwind romance, and one day Inger came to the Stig in Beirut, which was then regarded as one of the centers of world of espionage. True island of relative calm in the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, where every self-respecting exploration kept extensive residency. According to Bergling, local bars was literally swarming with spies. The newcomer appeared they were treated with alcohol, trying to figure out who he works for.

In this atmosphere Stig, hoping to improve their material situation, first tried to offer their services to Americans. Those refused saying that if he would be killed, that the Olof Palme say? After such failure cercasi Bergling seriously wanted cooperation with the Soviet intelligence.

Learning that Stig decided to go to work to the Communists, Inger was overjoyed.

- How cool! 'she repeated. "What a brilliant idea! You will be a real spy.

Crazy couple was read spy novels, their idol was escaped to the USSR Englishman Kim Philby. They loved to go to restaurants where once visited the famous Briton. This Inger called the Stig "my own smiley" - named after the English super-agent, the hero of Le Carre. Bergling called it "my Mata Hari".

Bergling began to seek contacts with the Soviet intelligence services. Unknown ways they became aware of this, and one day in 1974, when Stig carousing in the next Beirut restaurant, to him at a table sat the Soviet diplomat, who, as it turned out later, the officer of the GRU. Bergling offered their rates, which were adopted, and soon his supervisor was the Soviet military attache in Beirut Alexander Nikiforov. Attache recommended the Swede again to transfer to the headquarters of the SAPO in Stockholm.

The failure

A year later, Bergling has received appointment to the security police for the post of liaison officer with the Department of national defence. He gave Moscow a number of important services. Passed copies of secret documents, and also in time warned that the Soviet military-Apache in Sweden George Fedosov going away to the West. But soon due to chatter Inger he had to endure unpleasant moment. The woman told the story about his boastful lover, who imagines himself a Russian spy, one of the friends, and he told her friend, the journalist. The journalist immediately reported heard in SAPO. Check, however, gave no results, because with Soviet agents Stig met during business trips abroad, where to follow him was almost impossible.

Failed the same Bergling because fled to the West KGB Oleg Mountains-kievskogo. The fact it was known that the GRU has managed to recruit the employee SAPO, as he informed their hosts from the British Intelligence service (network intelligence and counter-intelligence services in the UK). The British sent this information to the state police Department in Sweden. Meanwhile Swedish counterintelligence, gradually narrowing the circle of suspects, appeared on Bergling, he March 19, 1979, was arrested by Israeli security services in tel Aviv.

Stig Bergling. Photo 1997

A daring escape and strange return

Sentenced to life imprisonment spy ended up in prison for especially dangerous criminals in one of the suburbs of Stockholm. There he was exemplary behavior. During this could get some concessions, including the right to visits. It has been to visit one of his former mistresses Elizabeth Sandberg. The meeting ended with the fact that in 1986 the prison administration received from lovers ask for marriage and satisfied him. The couple received permission to live in a country house Elizabeth. However, under protection.

A year later, the couple... escaped. Before the guards put against spouses, whiling away the time on the ground floor for coffee and a game of cards, those climbed out through the window on the second floor and quietly slipped in two rented cars. Changing means of transport, they reached the Finnish city of Turku, where Bergling came into contact with the military intelligence officers who worked under the "roof" of the Consulate. For three days they hid in the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki, and then took in the trunks of the Embassy cars.

- I realized that broke free when I'm in the trunk was pounding on the walls, later recalled the fugitive. - This meant that the Finnish highway over and began Soviet.

It was rumored that escape helped to make the Palestinian friends of the Stig. In any case, in November 1990, the couple was in the Bekaa valley, 50 kilometers from Beirut. There is a special training camp, Bergling had been training militants extremist groups Ahmed Jebril, terrorists Irish IRA, the German "red Army Faction" and a number of similar organizations. He taught them the tactics of guerrilla warfare in the cities, the use of weapons produced in the Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak plastic explosives.

Still not known what prompted the Stig of Burgling in August 1994 to reappear in Stockholm. There he was immediately arrested and put in jail. But then followed quite an interesting chain of events. At first Bergling found Parkinson's disease. In the summer of 1996 fell upon him and struck two punch plug my camera. As compensation for all these troubles the Stig first reduced the term of imprisonment, and on 17 July 1997 and is released. At the prison gates were waiting crowd of journalists and new passion is another Elizabeth, whose name is not reported.

The couple settled in the Villa, which Bergling inherited from Sandberg, who died from cancer. Later, there was information that the former spy died, but it does not belong to the category reliable.