18.04.2024, Moscow.
The Soviet military counterintelligence “Smersh” prevented an armed mutiny planned by Ukrainian nationalists, who had infiltrated the Red Army, in the summer of 1944, according to a declassified archive document of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), published on the eve of the 81st anniversary of the creation of Smersh. RIA Novosti wrote this on April 18.
According to the document, a group of servicemen from the 148th Reserve Rifle Regiment of the 20th Reserve Rifle Division were preparing an armed mutiny of the unit.
The mutiny’s plan was to seize weapons and ammunition from warehouses, kill the regiment’s officers and then join the Organization of the Ukrainian Nationalists-Ukrainian Insurgent Army (organization banned in Russia) operating in the forests of western Ukraine.
Declassified FSB materials also show that Ukrainian nationalists infiltrated the ranks of the Red Army to commit sabotage and terrorist acts.
The coordinated work of Smersh officers allowed the mutiny to be revealed and suppressed.
This episode once again demonstrates the importance of Soviet counterintelligence during the Great Patriotic War.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
