10 Intriguing Things about Former Soviet Sexpionage Schools

In his spy novel Red Sparrow, ex-CIA agent Jason Matthews sheds light on a real-life school in the former Soviet Union that trained female agents in sexpionage, teaching them how to seduce targets during intelligence operations. At southeast Moscow’s State School #4, students learned a wide range of skills directly and indirectly related to setting honey traps to get compromising photos or recordings in order to extort confidential information from powerful foreigners.

In the decades following the end of the Soviet era, many intriguing details have emerged about this school and others that were once cloaked in secrecy.

Related: 10 Famous People Who Were Secretly Spying on Us

10 Most Students Were Russian Soldiers

It may be surprising to learn that the majority of women recruited for sexpionage came from a military background. They were typically soldiers in the Russian army who went into the intelligence corps. Setting honey traps to blackmail powerful foreigners, including ambassadors and diplomats, into giving up state secrets was considered to be an act of patriotism very similar to military service.

However, some of the individuals who trained for this line of work were young college students who were seen to possess valuable assets such as beauty, understanding of foreign cultures, and an impressive intellect. Perceived loyalty on the part of these future “sparrows” was also an essential qualification. Not only were the potential cadets investigated in-depth, but the loyalty of their families, sometimes going back two generations, was also carefully scrutinized.^[1]

9 There Was Also a Sexpionage School for Male Agents

When we hear about spies using sex to obtain classified information and when this is depicted in pop culture, they are usually female agents, but there have also been plenty of male spies involved in these operations over the years. Sometimes referred to as “romeos” or “ravens,” these men had a separate school in Soviet-controlled East Germany where they were trained in the art of sexpionage. However, their education focused more on romance than eroticism as they learned techniques for manipulating the emotions of their target.

After their training, these men were typically sent to West Germany, where they would seduce Western women whose jobs gave them access to state secrets and, in many cases, carried on surprisingly long relationships, sometimes lasting over a decade. Even more shocking is how often these targets would willingly betray their country in order to cooperate with their “romeo” after discovering the man’s true identity.

Only the top 1% of applicants to the East German academy went on to become “romeo spies.” The criteria for selecting these male agents were somewhat different than it was for their female counterparts at the “sparrow school.” Though some of these men were strikingly good-looking, a handsome appearance was not actually one of the requirements. Another difference was that sexual skill was judged to be less important than character traits.

The women targeted by these “romeos” generally seemed more interested in a real relationship with a man they could envision spending their life with rather than a fling with a good-looking stud. So it makes sense that most “romeos” possessed attributes like confidence and reliability. According to the Daily Mail, they were usually “well-educated” and “attentive, with a sense of humor and impeccable manners.”^[2]

8 Fighting Competitions

Anyone who is a fan of spy movies has seen that espionage can be a dangerous business. While many of these stories are fictional, there is a lot of real-life evidence to show that spying is not exactly the safest line of work. At State School #4, much emphasis was placed on physical training, including martial arts and firearms lessons.

The women known as “sparrows,” “swallows,” or “honeypots” were also expected to participate in hand-to-hand fighting competitions. This was all in addition to the work they did to become as physically fit as possible.^[3]

7 Incentives

The desire to be of service to one’s country has always been a motivation for people who choose to go into any type of government spy work, especially for those recruited from the military, which was where so many of the young women came from who enrolled in State School #4. However, there were some additional incentives offered to the potential “sparrows” or “swallows,” as they were referred to by the KGB.

Benefits could include material possessions or, in some cases, a more appealing lifestyle. Playwright and screenwriter Yuri Krotkov, who defected to the West in 1963, later revealed to the press that the KGB assigned him the task of recruiting aspiring actresses for honey-trapping. He explained to American journalist John Barron that he would lure them into joining the program with the enticements of “better roles, money, clothes, a measure of liberty and gaiety absent from normal Soviet life.”^[4]

6 Unusual Graduation Present

Once they completed their training at State School #4 and were about to be sent out to five-star hotels on honey trap-setting missions, the female recruits were given an unusual graduation gift. Actually, the sexy lingerie they received was more like a uniform, considering they wore it for work to help them look as desirable as possible when they were seducing targets. In addition to this kind of intimate apparel, there was something else the spies occasionally wore that helped them to get confidential information: fake nipples equipped with hidden “microphones attached to batteries charged by body heat,” according to Central European University.

Depictions of alluring secret agents dressed only in provocative undergarments or a risque nightie have been popular for a long time. After sleeper agent Anna Chapman’s cover was blown and she was deported back to Russia, the beautiful redhead got a lot of attention when she posed in some very revealing lingerie for the Russian version of Maxim in 2010, turning fantasy into reality for a lot of people who could only imagine scantily clad female spies.^[5]

5 Sometimes, Entertainers Were Recruited

While cadets for these sexpionage academies usually either came from the military or were carefully selected college students, in some cases, they were recruited from the entertainment field. Of course, talented actresses would be particularly valuable to operations like this, which rely so heavily on pretense. Acting ability is essential for these spies. They must convince targets that they are genuinely attracted to them and then proceed to manipulate them.

Acting skills were even more useful when scenes would be staged to frighten or coerce someone into providing information, such as when French Ambassador Maurice Dejean was set up to think he had been caught in the act by a jealous husband during a tryst with actress Larisa Kronberg. This led Dejean to divulge secrets in exchange for Soviet help in making the potential scandal go away.

While actresses were an obvious choice for this work, other performers were recruited as well, such as singers and dancers. The Soviet Union was not alone in mining these glamorous professions for sexpionage. The most famous female spy of all time was exotic dancer Mata Hari, best known today for being a femme fatale, working as a secret agent for Germany during World War I.

It wasn’t just female entertainers that the KGB selected to be sexpionage operatives. They were known to audition male opera singers for this type of spycraft as well. Still, it was celebrated pianist Konstantin Lapshin who delivered some of the most impressive results in his capacity as a “raven.”^[6]

4 Where They Were Sent

In addition to being sent out to wait for targets in the lobbies and bars of Moscow’s five-star hotels that were designated for foreigners, the graduates from the “sparrow school” were dispatched to some other interesting places, including nightclubs and phony brothels referred to as malinas, which translates to “raspberries.” As would be expected, these malinas contained cameras as well as listening devices.

A similar set-up was made in apartments known as “swallows’ nests.” The rendezvous would take place in one room while KGB technicians would be in the next room recording the encounter. Bars were a good place for “sparrows” to pry secrets from men since alcohol would often loosen the tongues of the targets.^[7]

3 Sex Training and Blackmail Classes

One of the most obvious questions about a school tasked with training people to engage in sexpionage is: how were these students taught to use sex to get what they wanted from targets? Specifically, what were the actual classes like? In the “sparrow school,” these young women viewed sex documentaries in which they were shown sexual positions from the Kama Sutra.

These programs also featured advice from Soviet officials who shared sex tips they had learned during their time in other countries. However, these classes were focused on more than just watching and listening. Practical application was part of the curriculum as well. Some students were “made to expose before a class and film the compromising actions of other cadets to improve their blackmail skills.”

There were a number of tactics used to gain top-secret info from high-ranking officials and those who worked for them. Still, blackmail was a frequent device, though the extortion itself was sometimes delayed long after these steamy encounters until the target was in a position to provide more valuable intel.^[8]

2 The Details

The “sparrow” recruits only attended State School #4 for a few months. In addition to the physical training, espionage lessons, and language classes, they were taught sophisticated customs, like how people from different cultures ate caviar and how to open a bottle of champagne. It was also important for them to learn how to speak other languages with almost no trace of a Russian accent. This would have been useful in undercover work if they had to assume the identity of a foreigner.^[9]

1 The Fate of State School #4

It is not clear whether or not State School #4 is still open. Of course, digital spying is relied on more and more with advancements in technology, but the process of developing human relationships continues to be a vital part of intelligence gathering. Some believe this “sparrow school” was really only operational during the 1960s and ’70s. There are also reports that it closed in the late 1980s, which would coincide with the end of the Cold War.

We do know that Russia has continued to use sexpionage in the 21st century, but the details of how these individuals are trained are more mysterious. In a 2018 interview with “CNBC,” Jason Matthews speculated that independent contractors may be used for this kind of work in more recent times. While an argument could be made that using prostitutes to set honey traps is more efficient than the old way of doing things, this is not nearly as intriguing as the idea of a school devoted to educating secret agents on the practice of using sex for entrapment, with the goal of gaining confidential information.

But regardless of whether or not the “sparrow school” is still in existence, it remains a popular topic in both fiction novels and history books.^[10]

fact checked by
Darci Heikkinen