Russian intelligence service: Yelizaveta Mukasei, half of Soviet spy couple, dies at 97

Soviet spy Yelizaveta Mukasei dead at 97

MOSCOW — Lt. Col. Yelizaveta Mukasei, a Soviet spy who worked undercover in the West with her husband, has died at the age of 97.

External Intelligence Service spokesman Sergei Ivanov says Mukasei died in Moscow early Saturday.

An obituary issued by the spy agency Monday said Mukasei, whose code name was Elza, lived in Los Angeles from 1939 to 1943 when her husband, Mikhail, was working undercover there.

It said she received training in the Soviet Union before the couple went back abroad and worked as spies from 1955 to 1977.

Mukasei later helped train spies and wrote textbooks on spying. She was awarded several state medals.

Her husband Mikhail, whose code name was Zephyr, died last year at age 101.