Widow Keeps Memory Of British Traitor Alive

Rufina Ivanovna changed almost nothing in the apartment since her beloved husband died. His books of history and English literature are stacked to the ceiling, his pipes hung neatly in a little rack, and, on the sideboard, stands his old-fashioned but still working radio, tuned to the BBC.


The widow sits in her husband's favorite winged armchair, pouring tea and serving cakes. If you have not already guessed, she was married to British traitor Kim Philby.


Volumes have been written about this famous or infamous spy, and a column at least is due to Rufina Ivanovna, an elegant and extremely kind woman who is credited by many with having saved Philby from a descent into drinking and depression after he was forced to flee to Moscow in 1963.


Rufina Ivanovna is now the faithful keeper of Philby's history. Legends abound: "There are two particularly annoying myths," she said. "One is that after he came to Moscow, he lived in luxury -- like cheese floating in butter as we say in Russia. The other is that he was reduced to dire poverty and degradation and overcome with bitter regrets."


The reality was dull from the point of view of sensation-seeking newspapers, "but who should know better than me, his wife?" said Rufina Ivanovna, who is bringing out a book in Russian called "Island on the Sixth Floor" -- a reference to their sixth floor apartment -- about their life together.


Rufina Ivanovna admits there was a point where Philby drank very heavily. More or less unemployed, he consoled himself with whiskey, his preferred poison, or, when his hard currency was running out, with Soviet cognac. But he pulled himself out of this depression around 1972 and began consulting work for his KGB masters.


He kept up with British affairs by subscribing to all the Fleet Street newspapers, his favorite being The Times because of its cryptic crossword. His children were allowed to come from the West to visit him, but he could never go back to England.


He missed his homeland but used to say it had plenty of defects. Perhaps this knowledge helped him to come to terms with the disappointment he also felt about his adopted home.


"He was very irritated by Brezhnev," she said. "He could not bear to watch him on television. Gorbachev raised his hopes at first, but then he got tired of his demagoguery. Of course, he would have been appalled by the divisions in Russian society today. He had a strong sense of social justice. He was a very nice man, the nicest man I ever met."