Edward Lucas - Deception

bcThe Mutual Security Act allocated $100m to fund anti-Soviet guerrilla warfare.

bdNikolai Balodis.

beAn American-trained Lithuanian, Jonas Kukauskas, was captured soon after being parachuted into Lithuania in April. Faced with torture, he agreed to betray his leader, whose grave has never been found.

bfLudis Upãns, cited in Bower as ‘Lodis’ Upans.

bgHis real name was Nikolai Urm. He worked until retirement in the electrical department of the John Lewis department store and died in 2005 in the drab London suburb of Neasden, where a rusty horseshoe (characteristic for Estonian homes) over the doorway of his house in Bermans Way is the only remaining sign of his remarkable career. If by any chance his niece, Karen ‘Kim’ Toley, should read this book I would be most grateful to hear from her.

bhI would be glad to hear from anyone who can identify the SIS officer on the left.

biHe returned to Estonia for several visits in the 1990s, donating money for a war memorial and enjoying a belated recognition for his efforts. He passed on coordinates for the place near Murmansk where he buried his transmitter. A former Estonian official has the coordinates and plans to retrieve it when practical.

bjI shall be delighted if I am misinformed.

bkHe had been conscripted in the German army briefly in 1944, but did not serve in Rebane’s unit.

blIn past years the recruitment interview has been conducted by men of varying build, height and hair colour. All introduced themselves as ‘Major Halliday’.

†The statues are available from gift shops, at a price of around £200 (including postage and packing). A solid silver version is also available, but was presumably thought too expensive.

bmFor Státní bezpečnost (State Security).

bnMr Savisaar had found some evidence of Simm’s misuse of public funds, in a complicated story involving a dentist’s chair bought for his then wife’s clinic.

boI have no desire to reveal details that will mean little to the reader but perhaps make life easier for Russian intelligence.

bpIt is worth noting that Estonia experienced extreme international pressure in the 1990s to be softer on military and security personnel from the former occupation regime who did not wish to return to Russia. Had the authorities been allowed to adopt tougher rules, it would have been far harder for Zentsov (and perhaps others like him) to ply their trade.

bqIt has since been crippled by political wrangling and corruption scandals.

brThe logical absurdity of this was not properly teased out: if Russia was friendly, then why would drawing up defence plans for its weak and vulnerable neighbours be provocative? And if Russia was so easily provoked, could it really be counted as friendly?

bsI find that implausible, as even a national intelligence agency would hesitate to compile such information in a single list and distribute it internally, for fear of the damage done if it leaked. The risk of sharing such sensitive material with twenty-plus other agencies of varying trustworthiness would be huge and such a step unlikely. It is possible that this CD was a list of past Russian agents, rather than active or suspected ones. That would still be useful information for the SVR.

btI am withholding his name, in accordance with the sensible convention that serving intelligence and security officers should not be identified.

buStay-behind operations were a staple of NATO planning during the early years of the Cold War, and envisaged well-organised networks of saboteurs and spies working to disrupt Soviet rule after an invasion of Western Europe, with access to secret arms caches. They included the notorious Operation Gladio, which degenerated into political mischief-making in Italy.

bvChiefly the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank. If things go badly wrong, the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank provide bailout packages.