THE VOYAGE OF THE
RUSSIAN MOTOR VESSEL
POBEDA
The POBEDA, the ship that supposedly carried Pavel Fedosimov from New York, departed on 31st July 1948. It was bound, via a number of stops, for Odesa in the Black Sea.
The passengers on that ship included several recalled Russian 'diplomats' and a certain Chinese gentleman, FENG YU XIANG, one time War Minister of the Republic of China. He was en-route to meet with Mao Zedong and formally acknowledge him as the true leader of the People of China thus renouncing Chiang Kai-Shek. Feng had spent many months on a lecture tour in the US telling people of the scorn he felt for his one-time leader. A carefully prepared and stage-managed effort to win the admiration of Mao.
After stopping off in Egypt to collect, according to one report, some 2000 Armenian repatriates which seems a huge number for what was a relatively small ship, the Pobeda resumed on its course to the Black sea eventually dropping off their Armenian passengers in Georgia before the last leg of its journey to Odessa and the mother country. The fate that awaited these passengers is a matter of history, many were tortured by the KGB and many simply disappeared.
It was shortly after that last stop, it was a 30-hour journey in calm conditions, that disaster struck, a fire broke out onboard the Pobeda, it claimed the lives of two crew members and 40 passengers. Amongst the dead was our Chinese friend, Feng.
Whilst the official story was that Russian crew members, the Captain, the Telegrapher and the Dispatcher had been negligent and caused the fire in a media storage room filled with film and other flammable materials. Stalin, though, placed the blame on the Armenian repatriates, he was convinced that there were American spies amongst them and they were planning to set the oil fields of Russia ablaze and generally cause havoc. Havoc certainly describes the events on the Poboda.
What of Fedosimov?
Within the context of the Pavel Fedosimov story, where exactly would this fit?
According to reports, Fedosimov was amongst a number of other Russian diplomats on board the Poboda when it left New York on 31st July 1948. We have no confirmation of that and a future post will discuss another option.
How difficult would it have been for a man to, at the last minute, join 2000 repatriate Armenians and leave the Pobeda at Batumi in Georgia? How difficult would it have been for a man like Pavel to work his way across the continent and head for Australia? Could it be that there were indeed US agents on board and could they have facilitated his escape? And, indeed, why would they? The answer to the latter question requires some further serious digging.
In the view of this writer, Fedosiomov leaving the Pobeda, if he was ever on it, is a distinct possibility there's more to follow on the intriguing story of the man 'Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov code-named STEPAN.
According to reports, Fedosimov was amongst a number of other Russian diplomats on board the Poboda when it left New York on 31st July 1948. We have no confirmation of that and a future post will discuss another option.
How difficult would it have been for a man to, at the last minute, join 2000 repatriate Armenians and leave the Pobeda at Batumi in Georgia? How difficult would it have been for a man like Pavel to work his way across the continent and head for Australia? Could it be that there were indeed US agents on board and could they have facilitated his escape? And, indeed, why would they? The answer to the latter question requires some further serious digging.
In the view of this writer, Fedosiomov leaving the Pobeda, if he was ever on it, is a distinct possibility there's more to follow on the intriguing story of the man 'Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov code-named STEPAN.
I put some questions to an ex Russian Intelligence officer just last week regarding the issue of 'diplomats' being recalled, he said that if they were under suspicion as Fedosimov was according to Vassiliev's notebooks, then they would be tried, many would be executed, alternatively, they may get a lengthy prison sentence. In the less likely scenario where a suspect was found to be innocent, it is highly unlikely that they would ever leave the Soviet Union again, to be on the safe side.
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