The Tragic Story of Two Cold War CIA Agents: Abdula Osmanov and Fedor Sarantsev (Sarancev) ©

TIME magazine, December 31, 1951:

"Moscow's Tass news agency announced the execution of A. I. Osmanov and I. K. Sarantsev, said to have received "special training from U.S. intelligence officers in topography, the use of weapons and parachuting." Osmanov and Sarantsev, said Tass, had been flown from Greece in a U.S. plane and dropped in Moldavia last August, for the "organization of acts of diversion, terror and espionage," after which they were to have crossed the Soviet Armenian border and reported to U.S. intelligence officers at Kars, Turkey." 

Below are details of the story taken from published Soviet Union archives.

1. September 11, 1951

No. 329 

Top secret

To comrade STALIN

As you were informed, on the night of August 14-15 this year, spies were dropped from the plane by parachutes on the territory of the Moldavan SSR by American intelligence.

One of them, OSMANOV, was detained on August 15 this year at the Bendery station. OSMANOV testified that another spy had been dropped from the same plane.

As a result of the measures taken, on September 5 of this year in the city of Alma-Ata, while trying to get a lodging for the night in the house of a collective farmer, the second spy was detained - Sarantsev Fedor Kuzmich, born in 1926, a native of the village of Blagodatnoye, Akmola region, Russian, in 1943 was Mobilized into the Soviet Army and in December of the same year was captured by the Germans, after the war he refused to repatriate to the Soviet Union and stayed in the American zone of occupation of Germany... 

2. DECISION OF THE POLITBURO OF THE CC VKP (b) ON AMERICAN AGENTS OSMANOV AND SARANTSEV

December 18, 1951

Top secret

 

Question to the Ministry of State Security of the USSR

 

1. Instruct the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR to consider on December 18 the case of American spies, saboteurs, terrorists A.I. Osmanov. And Sarantsev F.K., to condemn them to death with immediate execution of the sentence.

2. To approve the text of the message of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on this case in the press (attached).

 

Published on 19.XII.51, 

 

IN THE MILITARY COLLEGE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE USSR

 

The other day the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR considered the case of American saboteurs A.I. Osmanov and Sarantseva F.K.

 

As it turned out during the investigation and at the trial, in August of this year, Osmanov and Sarantsev were parachuted from an American plane at night on the USSR territory in the Moldavan Soviet Republic.

 

Soviet state security bodies detained the criminals. During a search, it found fake documents, weapons, poison, and other means for committing sabotage and terror and large sums of money. In the area of ​​detention of Osmanov and Sarantsev, opened parachutes were taken, on which they were dropped.

 

Osmanov and Sarantsev admitted that they were recruited by American intelligence in West Germany. They were in the camps of "displaced persons" for espionage, sabotage, and terrorist activities in the Soviet Union. Osmanov and Sarantsev testified that they underwent special training in topography, firing military weapons, parachute jumping, organizing sabotage, terror, and espionage under the guidance of American intelligence officers.

During the investigation and at the trial, it was established that Osmanov and Sarantsev, upon completion of preparations for subversive work, were transferred to Greece, and from there, on an American plane and accompanied by American officers, were taken to the place of dropping on Soviet territory.

 

Osmanov and Sarantsev testified in court that, after completing the criminal assignments given to them, they had to arrive in the city of Kars (Turkey) to meet with American intelligence officers.

 

At the trial, the defendants Osmanov and Sarantsev pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them.

 

The Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court acknowledged the charge brought against the defendants Osmanov and Sarantsev under Art. 58-1 "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, fully proven. Considering the severity of their crime against the Soviet state and guided by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 12, 1950, "On the application of the death penalty to traitors to the Motherland, spies, demolition saboteurs," the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced them to capital punishment - shot.

The verdict was carried out.

Source: Лубянка. Сталин и МГБ СССР. Март 1946 — март 1953 : До- кументы высших органов партийной и государственной власти / Сост. В.Н. Хаустов, В.П. Наумов, Н.С. Плотникова.

(Lubyanka. Stalin and the USSR Ministry of State Security. March 1946 - March 1953)

Soviet Cold War Operations against the Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Ukrainian Service. Part Two

Case Study No. 2: Agent TARAS

August 31, 1989 Report Excerpt 

Subject: Operation "TARAS," stay of the object in the FRG – Information 

 

Secret Collaborator TS "TARAS" visited the FRG between July 15 and 28, 1989. The place of his stay in the FRG was Munich. Radio Liberty editors picked them up at the train station. Private cars took them to the premises of the Free Ukrainian University, where "TARAS" was accommodated for the entire stay. 

"TARAS" and another had the opportunity to participate in evaluating the activities of the Free Ukrainian University in 1988. According to the evaluation, the number of participants in the summer courses is decreasing, which, in turn, has resulted in a general decline in the university's activities. 

 

During a discussion, "TARAS" learned that the Ukrainian section of RFE currently has no problems obtaining information from the USSR. The Ukrainian section of RFE receives several dozens of phone calls daily from the USSR, in which the callers provide all necessary information. They also benefit from the increasing number of visitors from the USSR. 

 

As to the apparent lack of interest in this person among Ukrainian emigres, "TARAS" said that this situation was apparently caused by Peter G., who visited the FRG in May 1989 and who suspects that "TARAS" is a collaborator of the StB (State Security). "TARAS" is convinced that this is the result of operation "VEDA," in which he testified against Peter G. Since then, their relationship has been burdened with permanent conflicts. 

 

Case Study No. 3: Agent CERNY

September 25, 1989

 

Subject: The Ukrainian section of the radio station "Radio Liberty" in Munich, FRG - situation report

 

The editors of Radio Liberty receive their information from various sources, but recently the number of residents from the Ukraine who call and provide information has constantly been growing. 

 

Secret collaborators "SERGEJ" and "CERNY" obtained information about the Ukrainian section of Radio Liberty during their stay in Munich in August 1989. One Radio Liberty editor is currently responsible for a program called "radio mailbox." He reads letters- to-the-editors or parts of them to suit the Ukrainian program of Radio Liberty.

 

"CERNY" had the chance to briefly visit the "Radio Liberty" building. The two employees with him had to show their identification cards at the entrance. An American soldier opened the main gate, and they entered the yard by car. "CERNY" was not controlled at all. One employee accompanied "CERNY" to a studio where 11 to 13 employees worked. During his visit at RL, "CERNY" had the opportunity to spend several minutes in the security room where he and the soldier on duty watched all movements close to the RL building on a monitor. 

 

During their talks, "CERNY" was offered cooperation by the Radio Liberty editor; he asked him to deliver contributions for the Ukrainian or Slovak sections by mail or telephone and provide tips for other activities. He was interested in contributions that could be used for RL programs, mainly: the emigration of the periods 1918-1948-1968; the life of the Ukrainians living in the West; and the Ukrainian question in the CSSR.

 

At the same time, he invited "CERNY" to come again in the following year (1990) but cautioned him not to mention that he was to visit the specific editor in any documents. 

 

In the presence of "CERNY," the Radio Liberty Editor had a telephone conversation with the brothers who were members of the Ukrainian Helsinki group in Lviv. He asked them about the results of their group's meeting with the first secretary of the CPSU municipal committee in Lviv and commented on their remarks. The RL Editor claimed that currently, RL's relations with Moscow were excellent, that they receive only verified and timely information from Moscow, and he, therefore, did not want to publish certain things without the participation of Moscow, to avoid a deterioration of their relations. 

 

Because another Radio Liberty editor is a person of interest (zajmova osoba) in the OUN-matter, we ask our Soviet friends to send us reports on her activities in the USSR and an investigation of her sister, which would enable us to make all necessary preparations for their planned meeting in the CSSR. 

 

If you have any demands concerning this matter, let us know.

Case Study No. 4: Agent BORIS II

June 1989 Report 

Subject: Operation BORIS II—Information about his stay in West Germany On 24 April 1989, 

Secret Collaborator BORIS II traveled to West Germany. 

 

Further steps of this operation will be discussed at the coordination meeting in Moscow. In the meantime, we would like to know whether the V. Administration of the KGB could find out who has the telephone number extension 316 at Radio Free Europe and whether the Russian Service of Radio Liberty really had holidays between 1 and 4 May 1989. 

For more information: Chapter 8 in

 

Soviet Cold War Operations against the Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Ukrainian Service. Part One

Introduction

 

For over 40 years, Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL) were two American-sponsored radio stations in Munich that broadcast to countries behind the Iron Curtain. The radio stations were described in a secret 1969 Central Intelligence Agency report as “the oldest, largest, most costly, and probably most successful covert action projects aimed at the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.” 

For almost twenty years, thousands of persons worked at these radio stations for almost twenty years at the cost of over 300 million dollars. Yet, for years much of their existence remained covered in a Cold War shroud of mystery and intrigue. Early records no longer exist, and many persons responsible for the radio station's development have died, leaving fragmentary records. The archives of American and Eastern intelligence services remain classified, inaccessible to the public, or destroyed in the immediate post-1989 years.

 

All of the Warsaw Pact intelligence services operated against RFE/RL for over 40 years. Sometimes this was a centrally coordinated activity, and sometimes the countries ran their own operations. In this case, hostile actions spoke louder than words in the battle of ideas fought by East and West.

 

Asymmetric responses

 

"Radio Liberation from Bolshevism" first broadcast on March 1, 1953, from transmitters in Lampertheim, Germany, to the Soviet armed forces in Germany and Austria. Within ten minutes, the Soviet Union started jamming the broadcasts, an activity that would continue for another 35 years. On August 14, 1954, the Ukrainian Service of Radio Liberation (later Radio Liberty) began its first broadcast from Munich to Ukraine with these words: “Brothers and sisters! Ukrainians! We live abroad, but our hearts and minds are always with you. No iron curtain can separate us or stand in our way.” 

 

The station's name was changed to "Radio Liberation" in 1956 and then renamed Radio Liberty in 1963.

 

Émigrés from both RFE and RL faced intimidation, blackmail, murder, threats of murder, and kidnapping. The first and only direct physical attack on RFE/RL headquarters in Munich took place on February 21, 1981.  On that date, an international team of terrorists led by the infamous "Carlos the Jackal" exploded a bomb that injured employees and caused over two million dollars in damage.

 

Numerous propaganda books about both stations were published in East Europe and the former Soviet Union whenever those regimes wanted to counter the radios' effective programming with domestic and international propaganda. The information in these books was mostly fabricated with tendentious information supplied by agents inside the stations.

 

 A review of the history of RFE/RL would not be complete without mentioning some of the intelligence service activities directed against the radios and their personnel.  

 

Agents NIKOLAJ, TARAS, CERNY, BORIS II, and others were active in Soviet KGB --Czechoslovak SNB operations against the Ukrainian Broadcast Service of RFE/RL 1988-1989. 

Case Study No. 1, Agent NIKOLAJ

 

The Ukrainian minority in Czechoslovakia (mostly in Slovakia) was of concern to both the Czechoslovak intelligence service SNB ((Sbor národní bezpečnosti or National Security Corps) and the Soviet KGB. For example, the 2nd Administration of the SNB’s 12th Division sent “secret collaborators” to contact the Ukrainian Service employees of Radio Liberty and other emigres in the West. The 2nd Administration also sent reports to a Soviet KGB officer or office "P" of the 5th Department, 2nd Division. 

 

The Soviet KGB used the “secret collaborators” from Czechoslovakia, as it was known that Radio Liberty employees would not have trusted visitors directly from Ukraine, whom they would believe were "agent provocateurs." Thus, the idea was developed to use the Ukrainian minority in Czechoslovakia, especially those considered "dissidents," for intelligence operations against Radio Liberty. 

 

The following translated excerpt shows the extent of Warsaw Pact countries’ spy agencies infiltrating these stations.

 

Operation "NIKOLAJ," October 10, 1989, Report Excerpt:

 

Subject: Object "NIKOLAJ" - report about Radio Liberty. The Object of the Operation "NIKOLAJ" traveled in July and August 1989 with his wife to capitalist countries. They left Czechoslovakia via Austria in the private car of a Radio Liberty editor, who was returning home to West Germany from a visit to her husband's parents who live in the CSSR. 

"NIKOLAJ" spent three days with the Radio Liberty couple in Munich. In several discussions, he learned that the wife is currently following the Soviet press and is preparing a press review for the Ukrainian section of "Radio Liberty." She is in a better position than her husband at RL; she is a producer, has a good relationship with the head of the Ukrainian section, Bohdan Nahajlo, and the entire management of "Radio Liberty."

With the permission of RL's director and after receiving a sticker with the word "VISITOR" printed on it, "NIKOLAJ" was allowed to enter the premises of the Ukrainian section. A security guard at the entrance asked for "NIKOLAJ's" passport and kept it. "Radio Liberty" has about 1,600 employees, of whom 21 work for the Ukrainian section. 

One editor conducted an interview with "NIKOLAJ" on the topic "Ukrainian Culture in the CSSR;" he (NIKOLAJ) requested that the interview be broadcast in full and without any changes. 

Bohdan Nahaljo, as mentioned above, who is editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian section, is about 35 to 40 years old. His parents are Ukrainians, but he was born in the United Kingdom. "NIKOLAJ" also met with the editor Ivan Kacurovsky, an ethnic Ukrainian who is about 70 years old, a member of the first wave of immigrants, and who holds strongly anti-Soviet views. Furthermore, "NIKOLAJ" personally met with the announcer of the Ukrainian section Olexa Bojarko and with the Ukrainian emigre poet Ema Avdijevska. Both are using pseudonyms.

Among the Ukrainian emigres, there is little information on the lives and activities of Ukrainians living in the CSSR. The employees of the Ukrainian section of "Radio Liberty" are only interested in the situation in Ukraine and have developed no efforts to obtain information from the CSSR. They consider the CSSR to be a conservative state in which restructuring (perestroika) has not gained ground; they believe that the CSSR does not want to introduce (reforms) similar to those in the other socialist countries. 

In general, "NIKOLAJ" learned that RL currently has very reliable and quick channels to Ukraine. They receive information on all the activities of the internal opposition, demonstrations, and the situation in Ukraine and the USSR. The Ukrainian emigres also took advantage of the lack of paper in the USSR. They provided paper for certain publishing houses in the USSR to enable them to publish rehabilitated authors according to the wishes of the Ukrainian emigres and the internal opposition. 

"NIKOLAJ" had a stopover in Munich only on his way to KZ (Kapitalisticke Zeme--capitalist countries?) and back to the CSSR. He focused his attention on his stay in the USA and Canada, where he spent most of his time. Information about "NIKOLAJ's" stay in the USA and Canada will be delivered to the Soviet friends in the following report. 

The reports ended here as the collapse of Communism in Czechoslovakia took place in November 1989, and with that, the hostile activity against RFE and RL ceased. This is but one example of what went on well into the Gorbachev era and its declared policy of glasnost and perestroika. And even after the Soviet Union stopped jamming RFE/RL in November 1988.

 

(Reprinted with permission from the Kyiv Post newspaper, December 14, 2021)

Next: Agents TARAS and CERNY