Spy town - theme tuneIowa in UkraineTheirs been a buzz of excitement amongst the Urban explorer community in Ukraine
over an abandoned town in one of the remotest areas of Ukraine.
At first it was dismissed as being a Soviet settlement for workers engaged at a
nearby military plant, that was abandoned long ago before the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
From the outside it looks like a town but a highly unusual one, that's surrounded
by barbed wire and watchtowers. Therefore the Urban explorers decided to go in
and check it out where, to their surprise they find 'american style fire hydrants' at
regular intervals along the semi-overgrown pavements with American street signs at
many intersections and road junctions.
American fire-hydrants found in the abandoned Ukrainian ghost town
The architecture of the town being most unusual, as it resembles the buildings and
houses of the American mid-west of the late 1950's or early 1960's, rather than the
Soviet style buildings of the same era in Ukraine.
Although nature has reclaimed many of the roads, pavements and gardens that line
the streets of the deserted ghost town, the buildings still stand out. At the centre are
the shops, stores and diners ( some containing a jukebox ) that you would find in
any American town of its day, with the greatest excitement being, the discovery
of a long abandoned MacDonald's restaurant, one of the first to open and trade
in the former Soviet Union.
As the explorers delved deeper they came across a church, a school and a college.
Upon entering the buildings, they find many of the desks and chairs still in place
with books strewn across the tables and floor, many being English or American
text books.
Although the school contains a playground, its a playground that's hardly been
used, for besides the flaking of paint and rust that you would associate with any
abandoned town, the see-saws, swings and carousel's show none of the usual
wear and tear from children at play ?
Guard Post reveals allAt the entrance to the town, they came across a guard post which although locked,
they decide to enter and find amongst the desks and filing cabinets, the true
purpose of the abandoned town. As it turns out to be a training centre for spies
but no ordinary spies but deep cover agents, variously called illegal's or
sleepers recruited from amongst the Soviet Union's top English language students,
with a sense for adventure and an aptitude for English, where they could pass themselves off as a native speakers without any hint of a foreign accent.
Recruited by the First Directorate of the KGB, for foreign intelligence work abroad,
these aspiring deep cover agents had to be fully immersed in american ways,
habits and culture, so they not only look, speak and act like Americans but
behave like Americans as well.
Photo's of the Spy town in its heyday
Restrictions on foreign travel outside the USSRThe biggest problem the KGB faced, when recruiting deep cover agents or illegal's
was Soviet restrictions on travel outside the USSR. Therefore many of their
recruits had little or no comprehension of what daily life was really like in the west,
other than what they saw on TV or American movies. Only Soviet diplomatic staff
and their families had any exposure to life in the west which is probably why
( modern day KGB ) the SVR were able to talent spot Anna Chapman, as being
most comfortable in the west, being a former Soviet ambassador's daughter.
Therefore all the KGB's young 'deep cover' recruits, had to be initiated in Spy
School's which were training camps based in specially constructed towns,
resembling English or American towns, somewhere in the Soviet Union.
These training camps would last for years where the candidate would assume
the identity of an American or English man ( usually a real person, someone who
had died in childhood, called dead doubles ) the same as identity theft, in order
to pass themselves off as real people who had been born and bred in either
the UK or United States.
To help them in their training the KGB employed the best linguists from the
Soviet Union, as well as calling on the services of retired deep cover agents who
would blend themselves into the everyday life of 'The Village' as permanent
residents.
Therefore when the time came for them to assume their new ( deep cover ) roles
in their assigned country, they would hopefully blend in seamlessly into their
new surroundings.
New York Times feature, 1000's of Russian Spies in US, surpassing Cold War recordCold War era training towns might still exist in RussiaSmall town espionage, CIA exposes Spy Town
