US CIA operations in Latvia IV Soviet Occupation
US CIA program REDSOX operations in the territory of Latvia
In the early 1950s, the US intelligence service CIA began to play an increasingly important role in intelligence operations against the USSR, initially coordinating its activities with the British MI-6. The British at that time positioned themselves as experts in activities on the territory of the USSR, having both infiltrated agents and information. They also shared general information about the USSR with the Americans. It is now clear that all this information actually turns out to be Soviet counterintelligence disinformation.
In 1949, the CIA's Soviet Russia (SR) division launched the REDSOX program with the aim of sending illegal agents into the territory of the USSR. Within the framework of REDSOX, six operations of sending illegal agents were carried out – in Latvia (projects AECOB / ZRLYNCH), Lithuania (projects AEGEAN / AECHAMP), Estonia (projects AEROOT / AEBASIN), Ukraine (project AERODYNAMIC), Belarus (project AEQUOR) and Russia (projects AESAURUS / AENOBLE). AE denoted the territory of the USSR. Accordingly, the cryptonyms of all agents sent into the territory of the USSR began with the letters AE.
The REDSOX program continued until 1954.
In fact, these were suicide missions, as there was no real chance for these agents to return. In total, at least 85 CIA agents were sent to the USSR, of which only three returned, one of whom the CIA suspected of being a double agent.
More information sources
https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/dzive--stils/vesture/kgb-slepenie-arhivi.-spiegu-speles-latvija-cia-agenti-psrs-dienesta.a261845/
Zigmārs Turčinskis is a researcher at the Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia. The material he prepared has been submitted for publication under the author's title “Soviet Counterintelligence Disinformation in the Archives of the US Central Intelligence Agency” with the subtitle “Scientific Commentary on the lsm.lv Publication “The Forest Brothers in the Secret Archives of the CIA””.
The author uses abbreviations in the original languages in his text – KGB, CIA, etc.
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