Trust Operation
Encyclopedia
Operation Trust was a counterintelligence operation of the State Political Directorate
(GPU) of the Soviet Union. The operation, which ran from 1921-1926, set up a fake anti-Bolshevik
underground
organization, "Monarchist Union of Central Russia", MUCR (Монархическое объединение Центральной России, МОЦР), in order to help the OGPU identify real monarchists and anti-Bolsheviks.
The head of the MUCR was Alexander Yakushev (Александр Александрович Якушев), a former bureaucrat
of Ministry of Communications of Imperial Russia, who after the Russian Revolution
joined the Narkomat of External Trade (Наркомат внешней торговли), when the Soviets had to allow the former specialists (called "spetsy", "спецы") to take positions of their expertise. This position allowed him to travel abroad and contact Russian emigrants
.
MUCR kept the monarchist general Alexander Kutepov
(Александр Кутепов) from active actions, as he was convinced to wait for the development of internal anti-Bolshevik forces. Kutepov originally believed terrorist action was necessary to defeat the Bolsheviks and formed the "combat organization," a militant splinter from the Russian Armed Services Union (Russkiy ObshchoVoyenskiy Soyuz) led by General Petr Nikolayevich Baron Wrangel.
Kutepov also created the Inner Line
as a counter intelligence organization to prevent Bolshevik penetrations. It caused the Cheka some problems, but obviously was not overly successful.
Among the successes of Trust was the luring of Boris Savinkov
and Sidney Reilly
into the Soviet Union
to be arrested and executed.
Some modern researchers say that there are reasons to believe that both persons had doubts in MUCR, and they went into the Soviet Union for their own reasons, using MUCR as a pretext .
The Soviets did not organize Trust from scratch. The White Army
had left agents behind who were sleepers and there were also Royalist Russians who did not leave after the Civil War. These people cooperated to the point of having a loose organizational structure. When the OGPU discovered them, they did not liquidate them, but expanded the organization for their own use.
Still another episode of the operation was an "illegal" trip (in fact, monitored by OGPU) of a notable emigree Vasily Shulgin
into the Soviet Union. After his return he published a book "Three Capitals" with his impressions. In the book he wrote, in part, that contrary to his expectations, Russia was reviving, and the Bolsheviks would probably be removed from power.
The one Western historian who had limited access to the TREST files, John Costello
, reported that they comprised thirty-seven volumes and were such a bewildering welter of double-agents, changed code names, and interlocking deception operations with "the complexity of a symphonic score," that Russian historians from the Intelligence Service had difficulty separating fact from fantasy.
Defector Vasili Mitrokhin
reported that the TREST files were not housed at the SVR offices in Yasenevo
, but were kept in the special archival collections (spetsfondi) of the FSB at the Lubyanka
.
In 1967 a Soviet adventure TV sequel, Operation Trust (Операция "Трест") was created.
State Political Directorate
The State Political Directorate was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1934...
(GPU) of the Soviet Union. The operation, which ran from 1921-1926, set up a fake anti-Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
underground
Underground resistance
Underground resistance may refer to*Underground Resistance , a musical collective from Detroit, Michigan*Underground resistance during World War II, the inhabitants of various locales resisting the rule of the Nazis, the Empire of Japan, and Mussolini...
organization, "Monarchist Union of Central Russia", MUCR (Монархическое объединение Центральной России, МОЦР), in order to help the OGPU identify real monarchists and anti-Bolsheviks.
The head of the MUCR was Alexander Yakushev (Александр Александрович Якушев), a former bureaucrat
Bureaucrat
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government or corporation...
of Ministry of Communications of Imperial Russia, who after the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
joined the Narkomat of External Trade (Наркомат внешней торговли), when the Soviets had to allow the former specialists (called "spetsy", "спецы") to take positions of their expertise. This position allowed him to travel abroad and contact Russian emigrants
White Emigre
A white émigré was a Russian who emigrated from Russia in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War, and who was in opposition to the contemporary Russian political climate....
.
MUCR kept the monarchist general Alexander Kutepov
Alexander Kutepov
Alexander Pavlovich Kutepov was a leader of the anti-communist Volunteer Army during the Russian Civil War....
(Александр Кутепов) from active actions, as he was convinced to wait for the development of internal anti-Bolshevik forces. Kutepov originally believed terrorist action was necessary to defeat the Bolsheviks and formed the "combat organization," a militant splinter from the Russian Armed Services Union (Russkiy ObshchoVoyenskiy Soyuz) led by General Petr Nikolayevich Baron Wrangel.
Kutepov also created the Inner Line
Inner Line
The Inner Line was a secret intelligence and counter-intelligence organization of the Russian All-Military Union , leading Russian White emigre organization....
as a counter intelligence organization to prevent Bolshevik penetrations. It caused the Cheka some problems, but obviously was not overly successful.
Among the successes of Trust was the luring of Boris Savinkov
Boris Savinkov
Boris Viktorovich Savinkov was a Russian writer and revolutionary terrorist...
and Sidney Reilly
Sidney Reilly
Lieutenant Sidney George Reilly, MC , famously known as the Ace of Spies, was a Jewish Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard, the British Secret Service Bureau and later the Secret Intelligence Service . He is alleged to have spied for at least four nations...
into the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to be arrested and executed.
Some modern researchers say that there are reasons to believe that both persons had doubts in MUCR, and they went into the Soviet Union for their own reasons, using MUCR as a pretext .
The Soviets did not organize Trust from scratch. The White Army
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
had left agents behind who were sleepers and there were also Royalist Russians who did not leave after the Civil War. These people cooperated to the point of having a loose organizational structure. When the OGPU discovered them, they did not liquidate them, but expanded the organization for their own use.
Still another episode of the operation was an "illegal" trip (in fact, monitored by OGPU) of a notable emigree Vasily Shulgin
Vasily Shulgin
Vasily Vitalyevich Shulgin was Russian conservative politician and member of the White movement.-Young years:...
into the Soviet Union. After his return he published a book "Three Capitals" with his impressions. In the book he wrote, in part, that contrary to his expectations, Russia was reviving, and the Bolsheviks would probably be removed from power.
The one Western historian who had limited access to the TREST files, John Costello
John Costello
John Costello may refer to:*John Costello , American baseball pitcher*John A. Costello , Taoiseach of Ireland*John M. Costello , U.S. Representative from California...
, reported that they comprised thirty-seven volumes and were such a bewildering welter of double-agents, changed code names, and interlocking deception operations with "the complexity of a symphonic score," that Russian historians from the Intelligence Service had difficulty separating fact from fantasy.
Defector Vasili Mitrokhin
Vasili Mitrokhin
Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin was a Major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, and co-author with Christopher Andrew of The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, a massive account of Soviet intelligence...
reported that the TREST files were not housed at the SVR offices in Yasenevo
Yasenevo
Yasenevo is a station on the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. It was designed by N. Shumakov, G. Mun, and N. Shurygina and opened on 17 January 1990. Yasenevo has round, greenish marble columns and walls faced with yellowish metallic tile and pink marble...
, but were kept in the special archival collections (spetsfondi) of the FSB at the Lubyanka
Lubyanka
Lubyanka or Lubianka may refer to:*Lubyanka Square, Moscow*Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, Moscow*Lubyanka Building, former KGB headquarters and prison at Lubyanka Square, Moscow*Lubyanka , a metro station in MoscowPlaces in Poland called Lubianka...
.
In 1967 a Soviet adventure TV sequel, Operation Trust (Операция "Трест") was created.
See also
- Political WarfarePolitical warfarePolitical warfare is the use of political means to compel an opponent to do one's will, based on hostile intent. The term political describes the calculated interaction between one's government and a target audience to include another country's government, military, and/or general population...
- The Inner LineInner LineThe Inner Line was a secret intelligence and counter-intelligence organization of the Russian All-Military Union , leading Russian White emigre organization....
- Pseudo-operations
- Hundred Flowers CampaignHundred Flowers CampaignThe Hundred Flowers Campaign, also termed the Hundred Flowers Movement, refers mainly to a brief six weeks in the People's Republic of China in the early summer of 1957 during which the Communist Party of China encouraged a variety of views and solutions to national policy issues, launched...
, China
Sources
- Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7
- John Costello and Oleg Tsarev, Deadly Illusions : The KGB Orlov Dossier Reveals Stalin's Master Spy, Crown Publishing, 1993. ISBN 0-517-58850-1
- Richard B. Spence Trust no One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly, Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
publ., 2003, ISBN 0-922915-79-2 - Gordon Brook-Shepherd Iron Maze. The Western Secret Services and the Bolsheviks, MacmillanMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
1998 - Pamela K. Simpkins and K. Leigh Dyer, The Trust, The Security and Intelligence Foundation Reprint Series, July 1989.