Spy town exposed in Ukraine

[Lt. Campers]

Any idea, where this "Spy Town" is located ?

Looks like those american cars, are finding their way onto the internet !!
Note - its hidden away on this website but if you scroll down and select
'Car Talk' it should stand out in the forum.

Spy town cars for sale ?

[Fraucha]

Seems like an April Fool Day's joke 

    : NO it's not.

[David Rochlin]

There is a current news story that Russian spy/cover girl Anna Chapman was about to ensnare an Obama cabinet member in a honeytrap, precipitating the arrest of the spy ring. 

Soviet era concrete and cement work is famously good, actually.  That's why lots of Ukrainians prefer to own a Soviet era apartment over something more recent.  the old stuff was so overbuilt.

[Carlusha]

Soviet era concrete and cement work is famously good, actually.  That's why lots of Ukrainians prefer to own a Soviet era apartment over something more recent.  the old stuff was so overbuilt.

True, David. They are known as Stalinkas! However, the early attempts were crap and downright dangerous. The later buildings you see these days are very solid but still have problems plus no elevators!

These were followed by Khrushchyovkas from the 1960s and most of these are ready for demolition if not already removed.

[Lt. Campers]

How the Spy Town academies generated the perfect deep cover agents

Judging by the posts and feedback I'm getting, it looks like I've aroused
the curiousity of many expats, into the murky world of 'sleeper cells' and
deep cover espionage.
Of course having graduated from these Spy Academies, fully kitted out with
false identities, purloined from the birth certificates of american or british
children who died in childhood but are, to all intents and purposes, the 'dead
double' ( in terms of age, date of birth, etc ) of their new idenitity. Having
memorised every facet of their background until its ingrained in their psyche,
they would be able to recite, with ease their new family history, as if it was
their own and fill in the missing gap years with a plausible legend of the
schools, colleges, universities and jobs held in the past before entering
the United States.

Now its time to check out one of these Sleeper Cell's in action as they
settle down to family life in the United States and see whether they
are able to 'pass muster' with friends and neighbours before finally
being betrayed by an SVR defector, who exposes the snug little spy ring
to the FBI.

BBC video - FBI expose Sleeper cell

The above video clip is from a new BBC2 documentary called Modern Day Spies.
Which looks at how espionage has adjusted to new threats since the end of the Cold
War, broadening its range of recruits. But also taking into account that many of the
old Cold War rivalries and adversaries still remain.          

BBC2 documentary, Modern Day Spies

[babajaga]

Deleted

[babajaga]

Soviet era concrete and cement work is famously good, actually.  That's why lots of Ukrainians prefer to own a Soviet era apartment over something more recent.  the old stuff was so overbuilt.

True, David. They are known as Stalinkas! However, the early attempts were crap and downright dangerous. The later buildings you see these days are very solid but still have problems plus no elevators!

The best and most expensive "Stalinkas", for instance in SPb, were built after the War. By German POWs.

[Andriy84]

I can imagine another interesting function of such towns: propaganda.
Having a US looking town with cars and all the great details - KGB could use it as a scene for staging fake reports about "miserable" life in "imperialistic" countries. In 50s and 60s - the USSR had tons of American stuff which remained after the "Lend-Lease" supplies, and very often those were not only military stuff. Civil cars, infrastructure elements were also being supplied under the Lend-Lease act. Of course this doesn't explain how the newer cars got in there, but hydrants can be explained by that.
The ban for soviet people to go outside the USSR wasn't that bad. Ilf and Petrov famous writers have spent about 3 months in the US in 1935, also there were cruise ships on board of which people could travel around the globe (including the UK and the USA). Of course you would need to have a perfect party record to get a permission ))), however - I know several people who were out there in western world in early 80-s.
Also, after the World War II - soviet troops were all over the Europe. So to give a future spy a feeling of being abroad - they could actually send him abroad (to Berlin for example). And that is what they were doing - the rotation of soviet officers on their bases in eastern Europe was tremendous - if you were a young officer, and behaved well as a party member - you could get the appointment to serve abroad.
In general - the topic is very interesting!

[Lt. Campers]

Also, after the World War II - soviet troops were all over the Europe. So to give a future spy a feeling of being abroad - they could actually send him abroad (to Berlin for example). And that is what they were doing - the rotation of soviet officers on their bases in eastern Europe was tremendous - if you were a young officer, and behaved well as a party member - you could get the appointment to serve abroad.
In general - the topic is very interesting!

Thanks for your continued interest in this topic.
As for Soviet troops being 'all over Europe' not so. As they were naturally limited to
the Warsaw Pact countries which had their own communist regimes. So no western
experience their.
Of course 'loyal party members' would have had the opportunity to travel abroad
but usually only once.
Besides Soviet diplomatic staff and their families, the only group that would have had
plenty of time to travel and study the UK and America, experiencing western business
and culture, at first hand was the KGB. In fact during Soviet times you could almost
say its part of the job.
Many KGB officers were intergrated into the Soviet diplomatic staff as a Cultural or
Economic attache, gaining useful experience of how the western capitalistic system
worked and how western businesses are managed. Giving them a distinct advantage
during the days of glasnost and perestroika, marking the fall of the Soviet Union, in
which to usurp the very system they were sworn to protect.
In fact in one of the classic last episodes of Spook's the Head of MI5, accused hes
former KGB adversary of robbing the corpse of the Soviet Union.

When the old state run industries were being privatised, many former KGB officers
were able to snatch up, the lucrative sides of former state monopolies, like Gazprom
or put themselves in positions of influence.
An example of a former top KGB officer making it big in business is Alexander Lebedev.

[Andriy84]

Thank you for bringing up such a topic!
Yeah, you are right - soviet troops were limited to eastern European countries, and Eastern Germany. However - for them it was more than enough. I remember in my childhood, whenever any family was noted to have a better lifestyle than others around - every one new with no doubts that they've just returned from a service in Germany))) Such families were brought the taste of Western civilization to the USSR and other people started asking themselves - "Hey, if that imperialistic world is so bad, how come they have better standards of living that we do in our developed socialism". I think this was one of the things that put the end to the USSR as well as "Glasnost" which was introduced by Gorbachev before the economic conditions were improved.
I know some funny stories about soviet people being on tours to foreign countries. First of all - the international passports which were needed for the travel - had to be returned to the militia officials upon return. The same thing is going on in China now: you can have a passport, but it is to be kept at militia or whatever administration. Also, soviet people were always travelling in groups composed by representatives of many ussr regions. One member of the group was always a KGB agent. Very often - such types of tasks were performed by lower ranked agents, for them it was like a practice before they can continue their service on upper levels. For other members of the group it was a fun task to uncover who's the KGB agent (doesn't it sound like a modern role game called Mafia?  ). Usually it didn't take long, and the poor guy had to face all kinds of jokes and sarcastic attitude (usual things were - locking in, separating the group into smaller groups to make it hard to keep an eye on all of them).

[Lt. Campers]

Thanks Andriy,
I'm sure the Soviet soldiers serving in East Germany, must have been armed
with a long shopping list of western goods and clothes to bring back to friends
and family in the Soviet Union, particularly after the Berlin Wall came down.   

I know through talking to a few russian interpreters who studied the
english language during Soviet times, that it was very difficult to 'perfect their
english language skills' due to a total lack of English and American people
( for example english students ) with whom they could practice and interact.
Of course they might strike up a conversation with British or American tourists
in Moscow or Leningrad but all foreign visitors were booked with Intourist
( the Soviet Tourist Agency ) who tended to keep a KGB tail on foreign visitors.
So it could look very suspicious to the KGB, if they find any Soviet english
language students getting friendly with a foreign tourist.

So Russian english language students practiced on each other as well as
their tutors, which seriously hindered their chances of eliminating the russian
accent. Instead they acquired the same accents as the rest of the class
in the language school. Which meant they could instantly recognise which
english language school an interpreter attended in the past.

[Andriy84]

You are right. The exposure of soviet language specialists to native English speakers was very limited. However, this was compensated by a system of specialized schools. For example in Ukraine - most towns had (and still have) schools with advanced teaching of English, German or French (Spanish and other languages were not that popular). In such a school, children would start learning a foreign language from the first grade (that is at the age or 6 or 7), and continue their study for 10 or 11 years. I myself was blessed with such an opportunity. At the first grade we had about 3-4 academic hours of English per week. At the 11th grade - we had 17 hours per week (which included country studies, British and American literature, advances grammar class). Also we had Peace Corps volunteers teaching some classes. Also, the best students could participate in exchange programs (go to the US, live in a family and study at American school). The selection process was run by the US organizations who specialize in this. Parents did not have to pay for anything.
So the system is in place now and it is working. Hope soon all schools will be like that, cause we, Ukrainians have to understand that foreign investors will not come here speaking our language.

[Lt. Campers]

East German sleepers caught in Britain

Heres an interesting case of two East German 'deep cover agents' arrested in Britain
back in the mid 1980's. Again like the American case, the spies were a couple
living in suburban Cranford, Middlesex, where the husband's identity papers claim
he was born shortly after the war, a german of dual nationality as hes mother
was english.

Like the American case its unclear what these 'deep cover' HVA agents were upto
in Britain and the case remains a bit of an enigma.

East German spies with a flair for interior design

[Lt. Campers]

English commuter Village near Moscow

At long last I've tracked down the English village in Russia, although I'm sorry to say its not
a KGB inspired 'Chipping Sodbury on the Moskva river' where agents would serve their
appreticeship before being parachuted into the UK, with impeccable English accents like
Stephen Fry or Hugh Laurie.
No, theirs no double agents here but thats not to say to say that the KGB or should I
say former officers of the KGB ( turned businessmen ) are not here. As HydePark has been
built to pander to the aspirations of wealthy Russian businessmen who have developed
a 'love affair' for the British way of life.

HydePark, English commuter village near Moscow

[P-N]

I have an Aunt who lives in Chipping Sodbury.  Very nice little place.

Anyway, having said that, carry on Lt Campers.  Good thread.  Sterling effort old chap!