Zverev V. O.

Counterspies and circumstantial evidence in Myasoedov Case (from unpublished archival documents). Pp. 7–16.

UDC 94(47).083″1915″

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2023.81.4.001

 

Abstract. The article covers the objective general characteristics and some personal traits and professional qualities of the counterintelligence officers who participated in operational and investigative support of gendarme officer S. N. Myasoedov’s case. Ht was suspected of collaboration with the German intelligence service during the early part of the First World War. We come to the conclusion that the high level of the counterspies’ proficiency was mainly due to their experience gained in fighting foreign espionage in Vistula Land (Kingdom of Poland) in the previous peaceful decades.

The paper refers to previously unknown results of military investigative activities of the Petrograd secret police and counterintelligence, and circumstantial evidence that they found. During the pre-trial investigation and the trial such circumstantial evidence as the connection between Myasoedov and prostitutes Stolbina and Magerovskaya who gathered important information for him in the Petrograd highest military and political circles and Myasoedov’s connection with German baron E. V. Hahn who was compromised by his assistance to the German spy von Brümmer. The documents now introduced into historical discourse contain references to circumstantial evidence of Myasoedov’s guilt and cast doubt on his innocence. Yet further archival work may bring historians to more definitive conclusions about the issue.

 

Keywords: counterspies, spies, investigators, S. N. Myasoedov, trackers, prostitution, legal proceedings, sentence.

 

Bibliography

 

  1. Avrekh A. Ya. Extraordinary Investigaton Commission of the Provisional Government: its design and execution. Istoricheskiye zapiski [Historical notes]. Ed. by A. M. Samsonov. Moscow, 1990, vol. 118,
    79–87. (In Russian).
  2. Airapetov O. R. “The Myasoyedov Case,” as the Twentieth century begins… Vestnik Ryazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni S. A. Yesenina [Bulletin of the Ryazan State University named for
    A. Yesenin]. 2009, iss. 2, pp. 3–23. (In Russian).
  3. Gosudarstvennyy arkhiv Rossiyskoy Federatsii (GARF) [State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF)]. F. 215. Op. 1. D. 848; F. 221. Op. 1. D. 17; F. 222. Op. 1. D. 1017; F. 336. Op. 1. D. R 67; F. 555.
    1. D. 1005; F. 1683. Op. 1. D. 31; F. R 5802. Op. 1. D. 454. (In Russian).
  4. Zverev V. O., Ivanov V. A. The Tsar’s counterintelligence in persons. Investigators in especially important cases (1908–1915). Izvestiya Smolenskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [News of Smolensk State University]. 2022, iss. 4 (60), pp. 142–152. (In Russian).
  5. Zvonarev K. K. Agenturnaya razvedka [Secret intelligence]. Moscow, 1931, vol. 2: German intelligence before and during the war of 1914–1918, 163 p. (In Russian).
  6. Zdanovich A. A. “The Myasoedov Case.” A new stage in its investigation, or Running in circles. Noveyshaya istoriya Rossii [Contemporary history of Russia]. 2014, iss. 3, pp. 234–246. (In Russian).
  7. Nikitinsky I., Sofinov P. Nemetskiy shpionazh v Rossii vo vremya voyny 1914–1918 gg.[German espionage in Russia during the war of 1914–1918]. Tbilisi, 1942, 46 p. (In Russian).
  8. Nikolai V. Taynyye sily. Internatsionalnyy shpionazh i borba s nim vo vremya Pervoy mirovoy voyny i v nastoyashcheye vremya [Secret forces. International espionage and the fight against it during the First World War and at present]. Moscow, 1925, 676 p. (In Russian).
  9. Rossiyskiy gosudarstvennyy voyenno-istoricheskiy arkhiv (RGVIA) [Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA)]. F. 2019. Op. 1. D. 812; F. 2031. Op. 4. D. 62, 491, 806, 848; F. 2126. Op. 7. D. 65.
    (In Russian).
  10. Seydametov D., Shlyapnikov N. Germano-avstriyskaya razvedka v tsarskoy Rossii [German-Austrian intelligence in Tsarist Russia]. Moscow, 1939, 69 p. (In Russian).
  11. Freynat O. G. Pravda o dele Myasoyedova i dr. po ofitsialnym dokumentam i lichnym vospominaniyam [The truth about the case of Myasoedov and others according to official documents and personal memoirs]. Vilna, 1918, 171 p. (In Russian).
  12. Shatsillo K. F. “The Case of Colonel Myasoedov. Voprosy istorii [Issues of History]. 1967, iss. 2,
    pp. 103–116. (In Russian).
Uncategorized