Konstantin Volkov (diplomat)

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In early September 1945 Konstantin Volkov, apparently Soviet Vice-Consul in Istanbul, Turkey, turned up at the British Consulate General and told an astonished British Official that he was really the Deputy Head of the NKVD in Turkey and wanted to defect.

He gave out a little information as a free sample, asked for $27,000 and a promise of asylum and if these demands were met he offered to expose 314 Soviet agents in Turkey and 250 Soviet agents in Britain. Most vital of all, he said there were two British diplomats in the Foreign Office working for Russia and another man high in the Counter Intelligence Section of the British Secret Intelligence Service.

He demanded an answer in three weeks, and insisted that Istanbul not send his information by cable because the Soviets were reading some of the British Cipher System traffic. The news were sent to Sir Stewart Menzies, head of the SIS (commonly known to the media and the public as MI-6) by a diplomatic courier while Volkov returned to his Consulate. In London, the matter was given to the head of the Russian Section. This agent took the necessary steps and flew out to Istanbul.

The last that was seen of Volkov was a heavily bandaged figure being hustled aboard a Soviet transport plane bound for Moscow, where he died after hideous torture in the Lubyanka Prison. The British Head of the Russian Section arrived too late - not surprisingly, for he had informed Moscow from his London base and managed to delay the visit by twenty one days. His name was Kim Philby, the very Soviet spy whom Volkov's evidence would have exposed.

Had Volkov talked and not been betrayed to the Soviets he would have been a walking encyclopedia for the British and American Intelligence and would also have helped to clarify and update the existing information that they had about the NKVD, GRU, the armed forces and even the Kremlin. His testimony would have struck a devastating blow to all the facets of the Soviet power structure.

[edit] References

  • Kim Philby, My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy

Frederick Forsyth, "The Deceiver" p199 Corgi 1992 ISBN 0-552-13823-1