LEOPOLD and ERASMUS: KGB Counterintelligence Agents Sent from Lithuania to Israel in 1972
A discovery in the files of the Lithuanian KGB
It is possible that, in the summer of 1973, just a few months before the Yom Kippur War, the KGB might have been engaged in planning one or more clandestine operations against the West involving their agents dispatched under the cover of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union.
On July 18, 1973, the head of the 14th Department of the KGB’s Second Chief Directorate (counterintelligence) Colonel B. A. Shcherbakov sent a letter, classified as secret, to the heads of the KGB counterintelligence directorates in the Republics of the Soviet Union.1 The copy of the letter received by Colonel Antanas I. Naras, the head of the Second Directorate of the Lithuanian KGB in Vilnius, was marked number seven.
Shcherbakov gave Naras thirty days (until August 15) to provide him with information about all the agents whom the Lithuanian KGB counterintelligence sent to Israel or other “capitalist states” through the channel of Jewish emigration since 1971.
Shcherbakov was not interested only in the agents’ biographical data but also requested the full information about their psychological profile, skills and capabilities, methods of communication, date of departure, and accompanying family members.
He also wanted to know whether or not the agents left Lithuania of their own volition, what cover stories they operated under, and what tasks they were assigned to carry out.
The Lithuanian KGB counterintelligence responded to Shcherbakov’s letter just one day before the expiration of the deadline, which suggests that they were probably not very happy with their accomplishments. Indeed, the reply was not even signed by Colonel Naras, but by his deputy, Colonel Valery A. Ginko.2
On August 14, Ginko informed Shcherbakov that the Lithuanian KGB counterintelligence dispatched two agents to Israel in the time period he mentioned. Both were sent in 1972.
The first agent was codenamed LEOPOLD and his departure from Lithuania took place in August 1972. Ginko offered no other information about LEOPOLD and directed Shcherbakov to their previous correspondence, noting the dates and reference numbers. Ginko reminded Shcherbakov that the Second Chief Directorate was already in the possession of three earlier reports regarding LEOPOLD dated April 11, 1972, September 9, 1972, and December 14, 1972.3 According to Ginko, LEOPOLD was carrying out what he was instructed to do and was communicating with his handlers in Vilnius through mail. Given the number of reports in such a short period of time, he must have been a productive agent.
The second agent was codenamed ERASMUS and left Lithuania for permanent residence in Israel in October 1972. According to Ginko, before his departure, ERASMUS agreed to keep in contact with the Lithuanian KGB counterintelligence, was taught the relevant techniques, and given a mailing address for clandestine correspondence. Ginko noted that the Second Chief Directorate was informed about ERASMUS in the reports dated April 10, 1972, and January 8, 1973.4
And yet, since his arrival in Israel, ERASMUS appeared to have gone off the grid. He had not contacted his handlers even a single time and Ginko reluctantly acknowledged that the Lithuanian KGB counterintelligence had no idea why. Obviously, he could not admit that ERASMUS had duped them, that he tricked the KGB tricksters.
However, the Lithuanian KGB counterintelligence was not ready to give up on ERASMUS. Through the correspondence of his mother with her relatives in Vilnius (which they were evidently reading, or “perlustrating,” to use a KGB term), they found out that ERASMUS had a job in а company designing ventilation devices (Ginko probably meant air conditioners) and was learning English and Hebrew.
The file does not indicate whether Shcherbakov ever replied to Ginko’s letter, or anything else about the subsequent activities of the Second Chief Directorate, but it is clear that the KGB counterintelligence leadership could hardly have been satisfied with the performance of the Lithuanian KGB counterintelligence in this matter.5
This article is based on my ongoing research of the Lithuanian KGB files deposited at Hoover Library and Archives. See “Начальнику 2 Управления КГБ при СМ Литовской ССР - полковнику тов. Нарасу А. И. [To the Head of the 2nd Directorate of the KGB attached to the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSSR - Colonel Comrade A. I. Naras,” July 18, 1973, Fond K-1, Op. 3, File 700, p. 232. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution. I gratefully acknowledge the Hoover Institution Library & Archives as an essential resource in the development of these materials. The views expressed in this publication are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the fellows, staff, or Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution.
“Начальнику 14 Отдела 2 Главного Управления Комитета Госбезопасности при СМ СССР, полковнику товарищу Щербакову Б. А. [To the Head of the 14th Department of the Second Chief Directorate of the Committee for State Security attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Colonel Comrade B. A. Shcherbakov],” August 14, 1973, Fond K-1, Op. 3, File 700, p. 233. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution.
The mentioned reports were not included in this Lithuanian KGB file.
The mentioned reports were not included in this Lithuanian KGB file.
This Lithuanian KGB file had no further information about either LEOPOLD or ERASMUS.