(EST PUB DATE) THE CLANDESTINE SERVICE HISTORICAL SERIES: THE ILLEGAL BORDER-CROSSING PROGRAM 1946 - 1959

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
01356489
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
6
Document Creation Date: 
March 8, 2023
Document Release Date: 
March 28, 2019
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
F-2018-01655
Publication Date: 
July 1, 1971
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PDF icon (EST PUB DATE) THE CLANDE[15593987].pdf264.96 KB
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pproved for Release: 2019/03/25 CO1356489 Se6ret A Internal Use Only Access Controlled by DDP CIA HISTORICAL STAFF The Clandestine Service Historical Series THE ILLEGAL BORDER-CROSSING PROGRAM 1946 - 1959 ret S HP 098 Controlled by: SB July 1971 Copy 2 of 2 Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 based personnel during 1947 and 1948. The. Ryabov Case Of interest, however, is one case which appar- ently had no CI ramifications, and which was a har- binger of the path Soviet operations were to take a decade and more in the future. This involved a Soviet political officer with the rank of major and the puta- tive name of Vasiliy Nikolayevich Ryabov, and his German girl friend.* Ryabov had been wounded in 1945 during the Soviet capture of Berlin and had been brought back to health by a German nurse, who later became his girl friend. In 1947 Ryabov was stationed in Dresden. His girl friend resided in West BerliA, where information on her attachment to the Soviet major came to the attention of Captain Alexander Sogolow, an S-2 officer in liaison with CIA's Berlin Base. George Belie of the Berlin Base was thereupon put in contact * Data on this case derive primarily from personal interviews with case officers who were directly in- volved. .The writer was unable to verify whether Ryabov was the major's true name, nor was he able to establish the nuK.se's identity. A thorough search of various CS document repositories failed to unearth operational files, personality dossiers, or other vital data on this case. Neither RID/201, .RID/Cryptic Reference, nor CI Staff was able to provide meaningful information. A 201 file allegedly associated with CARAVAN in fact refers to a person who has no con- nection with the case. - 16 - � Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 with Ryabov and the nurse, and from October 1947 to December ,1949 Ryabov acted as the principal agent in the CARAVAN operation, which for a time also the designation DODGE. In 1948 the case was over in Berlin by Boleslav A. Holtsman. The carried taken German girl acted as courier between the major in Dresden and the Americans in West Berlin.- Ryabov had immediate family members in Moscow, and he was for an outright defection because of relatives would undergo if he fled. Soviet order of battle and on Soviet the height of the Berlin Blockade in unwilling to opt the penalties his His reporting on intentions during 1948 was judged of outstanding value. Operational planning included the staging of an accident complete with a corpse from the Berlin morgue provided the body was that of Major capabilities in the Soviet with documents alleging that Ryabov. CIA operational Zone of Germany were lim- ited, however, and in December 1949 Ryabov was trans- ferred to Moscow for a tour of duty with the Soviet Ministry of Defense. Prior to his departure, Ryabov was briefed on plans to aid in his future exfiltration via Finland or Iran. Although CIA obtained word of his safe arrival in Moscow, the Agency was unable to - 17 - Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 flp maintain a viable means of communication with an agent in',the Soviet capital and ;contact with the officer was lost. The German girl friend .was evac- 11/ uated by CIA to West Germany. The Shift to Munich By 1948 Munich, the capital of Bavaria, which was entirely within the American Zone of Occupation, became the main center of operational activity against the Soviet target. Two factors contributed greatly to this development Munich, unlike Berlin and Vienna, was deep within the American Zone and therefore un- encumbered with confrontations and juridical disputes with the Soviet forces, who had no access or authority in the American Zone. Secondly, most displaced persons from the USSR were concentrated in the American Zone and established their political, welfare, and cultural centers in the Bavarian capital. New escapees from Eastern Europe, such, as the wave of Czechs and Slovaks who fled from their homeland after the February 1948 Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, tended to gravitate toward Bavaria. Thus the Strategic Services Unit (SSU)-CIG base in Munich early in the post-war years was obliged by circumstances to keep abreast of Soviet - 18 - Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 organize an Assessment and Recruitment Section within CSOB, Munich, to specialize in these matters.. The Assessment and Recruitment Section of CSOB was organized in March 1952 with Sogolow as chief Sogolow was also assigned liaison and coordi- nation duties with the ZRELOPE paramilitary agent recruitment program which was eventually placed under the Assessment and Recruitment Section of CSOB for the spotting, assessing, and recruiting of all ZRELOPE 32/ USSR agent candidates. 3. Recruitment The recruitment of REDSOX agents of Soviet nation- ality almost always was based on their ideologicel oppo- sition to the Bolshevik dictatorship. In the case of Soviet minority nationals such as the Ukrainians, Baits, and Armenians, the ideological motivating factor was that of opposition to Soviet Russian imperialism and the possible liberation of their homelands. Finan- cial remuneration played the dominant role only with strictly mercenary agents who undertook to perform a REDSOX mission in return for fixed fee. The border- crossing missions undertaken on CIA's behalf by certain - 50 - Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 nationals are an example of the strictly cash- for-services-rendered arrangement. Financial consid- erations were also the primary motivations of the air crews who undertook "black" flights into the USSR on REDSOX agent-drop missions.* Upon. completion of the assessment package and receipt of appropriate operational security clearance, the recruitment "ceremony" usually included the signing of a secrecy agreement and a contractual obligation on the part of the Agency to establish a savings fund in which the agent's in escrow pending Agency's name was salary and any bonuses would be held the completion of his mission. The never used in the recruitment of REDSOX agents. Agreements were usually made with the US Government, the Department of Defense, or the US Army. Undoubtedly, however, many agents guessed or deduced that they were dealing with CIA. In cases of REDSOX agents provided by the anti- Soviet emigre groups, recruitment for penetration missions was done by the emigre group concerned and a * Ironically, these mercenaries were virtually the only on to survive their missions. See Att. B. - 51 - Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C01356489 (b)(1) (b)(3) (b)(1) (b)(3)