First CIA Foreign Intelligence Operation into Latvia in the early Cold War, Part Three ©

As we have seen In Part Two, Riekstens, Ozolins, and Balodis successfully parachuted into Latvia on August 26, 1952. But since Balodis left the airplane a few seconds later, he landed too far from the other agents to coordinate their next moves. 

Riekstens and Ozolins then proceeded according to plan on their journey to Tukums. Balodis headed off to Riga.

While underway, Riekstens and Ozolins were discovered by soldiers but could escape unharmed. But, reportedly, Ozolins dropped a map with the word "Dreimani” written on it. Dreimani was the name of the farm where Riekstens spent part of his childhood and was their goal.

Ozolins KGB Card

It turns out that Edvin Ozolins was a KGB agent with the cryptonym PILOT. He had walked into the Soviet Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, on or about December 10, 1950. He offered his services as an agent and was accepted by Moscow. 

After Riekstens and Ozolins reached the farmhouse on September 7, 1950. They were hidden in the barn. On September 11, 1950, soldiers surrounded the barn, and a firefight broke out. Riekstens did not give up and reportedly bit the hidden poison capsule sewn into his coat lapel. He died instantly. 

A later published account of his action had three KGB officers shooting Riekstens after he opened fire on them. Riekstens father was called in to identify his son but was refused permission to bury him. Rieskstns was eventually buried in an unmarked grave.

Ozolins surrendered to the soldiers and told him he was an agent named PILOT. The Latvian MGB eventually confirmed this with Moscow. Ozolins then participated in a Latvian MGB/KGB operational game METEOR used against the CIA to lure two American agents into Latvia: Leonids Zarins and Arturs Brombergs. They were captured and put on trial. This will be covered in a later posting.

Balodis KGB Card

As for Balodis, he reached his goal, but in August 1953, he was either captured or turned himself into the MGB and became agent CAPTAIN, with the alias Kārlis Krūmiņš. He became involved in an operational radio game by sending 48 MGB/KGB radio messages to CIA. The last message was received in December 1956. This radio game will also be covered in a later posting. 

Copies of the KGB cards are courtesy of the Latvian Centre for the Documentation of the Consequences of Totalitarianism (CDCT)