Photo: Press Service of the Foreign Intelligence of Ukraine
The history of the Second World War is replete with examples of heroism, but also of betrayal, which is still controversial today. One of the most famous traitors in Soviet historiography is Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov, whom the Kremlin considered “Stalin’s personal enemy”. The archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine reveal unique details of a large-scale operation by the of PCSS the Ukrainian SSR aimed at his capture or liquidation. The code name of the object was “Raven”.
The traitor they feared
In the minds of Soviet propaganda, the Second World War was the “Great Patriotic War”, where Russians played a key role in the victory over Nazism. Any facts that contradicted this narrative were severely suppressed. Particularly painful for the Kremlin was the truth about the Russian Liberation Army (RLA), a military formation created under the auspices of the Nazis and led by General Vlasov. According to various estimates, the number of RLA members reached 100-120 thousand people, mostly Russians who collaborated with the enemy. For Stalin and his entourage, Vlasov was not just a traitor, but a symbol that undermined the myth of the monolithic nature of the Soviet people.
Moscow made enormous efforts to destroy Vlasov and hide the truth about his army. In 1943, the PCSS of the Ukrainian SSR was tasked with finding, capturing, or eliminating Voron. The archival documents of the FIS of Ukraine (F.1, Case 9574) describe in detail how the Soviet secret service deployed an agent network, infiltrated militants and created legends to penetrate Vlasov’s entourage.
The operation begins
In November 1943, the 4th Directorate of the PCSS of the Ukrainian SSR received a directive from Moscow to focus its efforts on the elimination of Vlasov. The plan included searching for RLA members in the liberated territories of Ukraine, recruiting them, training them, and sending them behind the front line. The agents were to infiltrate the RLA headquarters, establish contact with Vlasov’s entourage and, under favourable conditions, destroy him. Particular attention was paid to secrecy, as Vlasov and the German secret services were aware of the PCSS’s plans.
One of the key elements of the operation was the creation of a fictitious ‘Vlasov’s underground’ in the liberated territories. This underground was supposed to establish communication with the Raven headquarters and ensure the infiltration of militant agents. For example, in April 1944, agents Ivanov and Vasiliev were sent behind enemy lines with the task of infiltrating the headquarters of the southern group of the RLA and carrying out terrorist attacks against the command. However, the mission failed: the agents returned without completing the task and were arrested on suspicion of treason.
Women agents and the RLA school
The PCSS used different approaches to achieve this goal. In July 1944, two female agents, Victoria and Yuzhna, were sent behind the front line. Both were doctors, spoke German and had experience of working during the occupation, including escorting trains with civilians to Germany. Their task was to infiltrate the RLA through connections with white immigrants in Berlin. The documents note Victoria’s “culturedness” and “attractive appearance”, as well as her “strong-willed qualities” and desire to “atone for her guilt before her homeland”. The PCSS hoped that these qualities would help her enter Vlasov’s inner circle.
Another direction of the operation was the infiltration of agents into the Bialystok RLA School No. 2, where propagandists and officers were trained. Agent Sokol, a former border guard who had been to German camps and graduated from the propaganda school, was sent behind enemy lines in April 1944. His task was to organise a group to eliminate Vlasov during his visit to the school. Agent ‘Gorsky’ received a similar mission in May of the same year.
Prague: the last stage of the hunt
At the beginning of 1945, when the defeat of Germany became inevitable, the PCSS stepped up its operations. Particular attention was paid to the Prague area, where the headquarters of the RLA and the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, a political body established by Vlasov in November 1944, were located. In April 1945, agent Vladimirov was flown by plane to the PCSS’s Fakel base near the Czech town of Dobříš. His task was to find his former teacher in Prague, who was a member of the ‘Committee’, to recruit him and persuade him to eliminate Vlasov.
Radio reports and PCSS memos from 1945 show the intensity of the operation. In March, agents reported that Vlasov (“Voron”) and his associate Zhilenkov (“Hare”) were in Bratislava, and a special group was sent to eliminate them. In April, a special group led by resident ‘Akt’ located the apartments of Vlasov and Zhilenkov, but the operation failed again.
Culmination and finale
On 6 May 1945, the PCSS received information that Vlasov was in Prague. However, they failed to capture him: he fled to the American occupation zone near Pilsen with a part of the RAF troops. On 10 May, the head of the PCSS’s Lviv Oblast Department, Voronin, reported that Vlasov had reached the Americans, and that 40% of his troops were left behind.
On 12 May 1945, soldiers of the 1st Ukrainian Front detained Vlasov near Pilsen as he was attempting to cross into the western zone. In July 1946, a closed court in Moscow found him and 11 accomplices guilty of treason. On 1 August 1946, Vlasov was executed by hanging.
Operation Hunt for the Raven is not only a story about intelligence services, but also evidence of how the Kremlin tried to destroy any trace of truth that contradicted the official narrative. The documents of the FIS of Ukraine show how large-scale and complex the PCSS’s efforts were, as well as how much of a threat Vlasov was considered in Moscow. This story reminds us that the war was not only about frontline battles, but also about covert operations, where the stakes were no less high.
Information taken from the official website of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
