Is Moscow reviving a notorious 1940s security agency? Or is the suggestion that the infamous SMERSH counterintelligence unit has been revived in Russia simply a way to troll the West? Worse yet, could it be that the country is facing the threat of a neo-Stalinist revival?
A recent video circulated on Russian social media shows a young man from the Belgorod region making a public apology for having filmed and posted footage of Russian air defences online. In front of him, with only their backs shown, are two uniformed men. On their vests are patches with the infamous name ‘SMERSH’, a contraction of ‘Smert’ Shpionam‘ or ‘Death to Spies’ on them. Active between 1943-46, this was a special element of armed forces counterintelligence devoted to the bloody liquidation not only of suspected enemy agents but also deserters, hostile partisans, saboteurs, and other presumed enemies of the state. Of course, in the West it is rather better known as one of James Bond’s main antagonists, featuring in Ian Fleming’s books set long after it had actually been incorporated into the Ministry of State Security, precursor to the KGB.
The powerful Federal Security Service, the main internal security agency, would hardly want to see a new rival
On Monday, the UK Ministry of Defence intelligence update on Ukraine featured the revival of SMERSH.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate, free for a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.
UNLOCK ACCESS Try a month freeAlready a subscriber? Log in