Vladimir Pravdin
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Pravdin or Roland Lyudvigovich Abbiate codename LETCHIK ("Pilot") (August 15, 1905 – 1970) was a senior NKVD assassin working in Europe during the Great Terror
. He later became a KGB
agent
, stationed in the United States.
. During the 1930s, Pravdin had been involved in killings and kidnappings in Europe for the KGB, including the assassination of Ignace Reiss, a GRU
officer who defected in 1937. Reiss was caught by the NKVD
in Switzerland, where he was killed as an object lesson to potential defectors. Pravdin disappeared after the murder. Later, during World War II, he turned up again in the United States where he served as a Soviet diplomat, Vladimir Sergeyvich Pravdin.
Later, in the United States
, Pravdin operated under cover as the head of TASS
News Agency from 1944 to 1945. Among Pravdin's contacts while serving in the United States were Judith Coplon
Josef Katz, Bernard Schuster, and Josef Berger.
In Washington, Pravdin, posing as a TASS reporter, made the acquaintance of such people as the famous correspondent Walter Lippmann
and others. On one occasion, he met with a person with three children to offer money for certain unspecified information and who was code-named by the KGB as BLIN ("bliny" is Russian for "pancake"). In the plain language of the cable decrypt, BLIN was willing to provide information but declined to cooperate with the NKVD
because the approach had been clumsy, but left open the possibility of future cooperation. From scraps of information about BLIN that arose from the brief breaking of the Russian code in the materials the U.S. known as VENONA, the FBI concluded that BLIN “appears” to be I.F. Stone.
.. I.F. Stone was already attacking J. Edgar Hoover frequently in 1943 and the FBI was of the view that “Stone is known to the bureau because of his hostile editorial comments made against the FBI as early as 1936."
, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Harry Dexter White
met with Pravdin and answered a series of questions about U.S. negotiating strategy and possible ways for Moscow to defeat or water down American post-War proposals.
Pravdin left the United States and returned to the Soviet Union on 11 March 1946.
Anatoli Golitsyn
, another Soviet defector in the 1960s, also claimed that Pravdin was active in Austria after World War II, often passing as a Frenchman.
The Great Terror
The Great Terror is a book by British historian Robert Conquest, published in 1968. It gave rise to an alternate title of the period in Soviet history known as the Great Purge. The complete title of the book is The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties...
. He later became a KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
agent
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, stationed in the United States.
TASS reporter
Pravdin was born in London, and lived at one time in the United States during the early twenties. His wife, Olga Pravdin, also served in the KGBKGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
. During the 1930s, Pravdin had been involved in killings and kidnappings in Europe for the KGB, including the assassination of Ignace Reiss, a GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
officer who defected in 1937. Reiss was caught by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in Switzerland, where he was killed as an object lesson to potential defectors. Pravdin disappeared after the murder. Later, during World War II, he turned up again in the United States where he served as a Soviet diplomat, Vladimir Sergeyvich Pravdin.
Later, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Pravdin operated under cover as the head of TASS
TASS
TASS or Tass may refer to:* Telluride Association Sophomore Seminar, a six-week educational opportunity for minority high school students* Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, TASS is the transliteration of the Russian abbreviation for it...
News Agency from 1944 to 1945. Among Pravdin's contacts while serving in the United States were Judith Coplon
Judith Coplon
Judith Coplon Socolov was one of the first major figures tried in the United States for spying for the former Soviet Union; problems in her trials in 1949–50 had a profound influence on espionage prosecutions during the McCarthy era.-Work and arrest:Coplon obtained a job in the Department of...
Josef Katz, Bernard Schuster, and Josef Berger.
In Washington, Pravdin, posing as a TASS reporter, made the acquaintance of such people as the famous correspondent Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...
and others. On one occasion, he met with a person with three children to offer money for certain unspecified information and who was code-named by the KGB as BLIN ("bliny" is Russian for "pancake"). In the plain language of the cable decrypt, BLIN was willing to provide information but declined to cooperate with the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
because the approach had been clumsy, but left open the possibility of future cooperation. From scraps of information about BLIN that arose from the brief breaking of the Russian code in the materials the U.S. known as VENONA, the FBI concluded that BLIN “appears” to be I.F. Stone.
Myra MacPherson's criticism of belief that BLIN was IF Stone
Stone biographer Myra MacPherson has contended that the FBI was uncertain about whether BLIN was, in fact, Stone, noting that, unlike Stone, BLIN was identified as someone “whose true pro-Soviet sympathies were not known to the public...”. The FBI also considered the possibility of Ernest K. Lindley, who better fit the profile of a “very prominent journalist” and who, like Stone (and BLIN), had three children.. Another cable indicated that BLIN was afraid of contact with Pravdin lest he draw the attention of J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
.. I.F. Stone was already attacking J. Edgar Hoover frequently in 1943 and the FBI was of the view that “Stone is known to the bureau because of his hostile editorial comments made against the FBI as early as 1936."
Other connections
In 1945, while serving as a senior adviser to the American delegation at the founding conference of the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Harry Dexter White
Harry Dexter White
Harry Dexter White was an American economist, and senior U.S. Treasury department official, participating in the Bretton Woods conference...
met with Pravdin and answered a series of questions about U.S. negotiating strategy and possible ways for Moscow to defeat or water down American post-War proposals.
Pravdin left the United States and returned to the Soviet Union on 11 March 1946.
Anatoli Golitsyn
Anatoliy Golitsyn
Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE is a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about the long-term deception strategy of the KGB leadership. He was born in Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR...
, another Soviet defector in the 1960s, also claimed that Pravdin was active in Austria after World War II, often passing as a Frenchman.
Sources
- United States. A Counterintelligence Reader. Vol. 1 Chap. 4. National Counterintelligence Center. no date.
- FBI Venona file - page 37
- FBI Albert Einstein file
- Venona: Decoding Espionage in America, John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Yale University Press, 1999, pgs. 53, 158, 212, 225, 237, 240, 241, 242, 243, 248.
- The Venona Story by Robert L. Benson
- MacPherson, Myra. "All Governments Lie." New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
- Information on Vladimir Pravdin