USSR double agent - Edvīns Ozoliņš with the nickname "Pilot"

Operatīvā spēle "Meteor". Sagatavošanās ASV spiegu lidmašīnas sagrābšanai KGB iekārtotajā lidlaukā Kurzemē. Priekšplānā ar mugurām divas neatpazītas personas. Otrajā rindā no labās: 1. PSRS KGB 2. Galvenās pārvaldes priekšnieks ģenerālleitnants Pjotrs Fedotovs; 2. Edvīns Ozoliņš (aģents "Pilot"); 3. LPSR KGB 2. daļas vecākais leitnants Jānis Lukašēvičs (ar foto aparātu uz krūtīm); 4. LPSR KGB priekšsēdētājs ģenerālmajors Jānis Vēvers; 5. LPSR KGB 2. daļas priekšnieks majors Alberts Bundulis (ar kabatas lukturīti rokās). Foto 1955. gada 10. septembrī. Foto: TSDC arhīvs

Cold War intelligence and counterintelligence battles between the West and the USSR involved agents from both sides and double agents. Since the twenties of the 20th century, the Soviet security services had developed a completely new measure - disinformation - for the purpose of protecting the regime. A term which until then was not known at all in the West.

Edvīns Ozoliņš (pseudonym "Herberts", "Herberts Okolo" for communication with the US government institutions, cryptonym CAMUSO/2). Ozoliņš was born in Riga in 1914. During the Second World War, he served as a mechanic in the Latvian aviation unit. Together with the unit went to Germany. At the moment of capitulation, he managed to escape to Sweden. It is hard to understand why the Americans liked Ozoliņš, because he was a completely untalented and useless radio operator. Perhaps the Americans liked Ozoliņš's American wide smile, and the Americans fell for that smile as well.

Already on February 7, 1950, the French intelligence service warned the Americans that Ozoliņa was considered a Soviet intelligence agent and demanded all available information about him. The CIA, on the other hand, decided that they had at least 75 cards with Ozolinis, and they could not determine which Ozolinis they were talking about. But the French were right.

In Lukašević's synopsis of the operational game "Meteor":

"1951 in (7V) State security. it became known to the authorities that the CIA was preparing a group of spies for illegal transfer to Latvia. Latvian emigrant Edvīns Ozoliņš [..] told about it, who lived in Stockholm at the time and wanted to return to his homeland. [sic!]” [2]

As can be seen from both Lukashevich's notes and the textbook "History of the Soviet State Security Organs" created for the needs of the KGB higher school, Ozoliņš was recruited under the nickname "Pilot". However, at the same time, it is known that the agent "Pilot" was connected to the residencies of the 1st Main Directorate (external intelligence) of the USSR at the time, and at the level of the KGB of the LPSR, no one had any idea about him.

Pasakotojas: Zigmārs Turčinskis; Šią istoriją užrašė: Jana Kalve
Panaudoti šaltiniai ir literatūra:

https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/dzive--stils/vesture/kgb-slepenie-arhivi.-spiegu-speles-latvija-cia-agenti-psrs-dienesta.a261845/ 

Susijusios vietos

Memorial stone of Alfred Riekstiņš

Memorial stone to Latvian Legion lieutenant and national partisan Alfred Riekstiņš, who died near the "Dreimaņi" house on September 11, 1952

On September 11, 1952, Alfred Riekstiņš, a lieutenant of the 19th SS Grenadier Division (Latvian No. 2) of the Latvian Legion and a Knight of the Iron Cross, died in the yard of the "Dreimaņi" house. On May 9, 1945, Alfred Riekstiņš from Pāvilosta arrived in Sweden with one of the last boats. On August 30, 1952, Alfrēds Riekstiņš, together with two former Latvian soldiers, landed in Kurzeme on behalf of the US intelligence services. The security services of the USSR knew about the operation and surrounded the intelligence officers in the shed of the "Dreimaņi" house, where Alfred Riekstiņš committed suicide by biting a poison ampoule.