The Defectors

IGOR GOUZENKO

In earlier posts, we discussed the findings in Vassiliev's notes that Pavel Fedosimov was suspected of being about to betray the mother country, he had been recalled to Moscow and was due to board the Pobeda in New York on 31st July 1948.

I wondered just how the news of his recall was broken to him and then an article appeared that has given us an insight into just how these things were done. We won't be going into his defection in any great detail here. Our purpose is to look carefully at the process to see if we can glean anything of value that might give us a greater insight into the circumstances related to Pavel Fedosimov.

THE ARGUS

The following words appeared in a copy of The Argus, Melbourne dated 23rd December 1948, it  is from one of a series of articles 'The Iron Curtain'

'We all lived in constant fear of a recall to Moscow in the form of a telegram containing the standard phrase "he is required for other work." The "other work." we all realised, could mean penal servitude in Siberia.

We even suspected "friendly recalls" mentioning promotion in rank or service, because too frequently we had heard of the exalted ones "vanishing" im-mediately after arrival in Mos-cow. The reason could be some remark or indiscretion that the recalled one had long since forgotten. It could be for charges advanced by an enemy and to which the victim would be given no chance to reply.

This Soviet distrust of her own citizens presents one of the weakest, points of the system, as well as the most worrisome for one working in a position of so-called trust behind the Soviet "Iron Curtain."

Then, one afternoon in September 1944, it happened—like a bolt from the blue! Colonel Zabotin called me into his office. He was staring at a letter which had just arrived in the diplomatic mail from Moscow.

"For reasons unstated," Zabotin said, "the immediate recall of you and your family has been ordered by the Director.' 

Gouzenko put up some solid reasons why he shouldn't go back and he was listened to, his departure was delayed

Igor Gouzenko made his decision to defect to the West and did so on 5th September 1945, 3 days after the end of WW2. He went on to play a crucial role in breaking up the Soviet's largest spy ring in the United States. 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22704639#

THE LESSON

What can be learned from this? Read through the excerpt carefully. At first glance, it just tells us that he received a notification from his superiors that he would be heading back to Moscow. But there's more than that, we learned a little of the machinations and of the underlying fear of what happened to those who were recalled.

It is safe to assume that Fedosimov would have had a similar briefing with his superior and no doubt he would have discussed it in detail with his wife as did Gouzenko. The decision was obvious for them, they needed to break free and do it as quickly as possible. Having managed to get a stay on the decision, Gouzenko set about organising his ultimate defection.

We don't know whether Fedosimov had a similar delay but we do know that his wife did not board the Pobeda, she wasn't even on the passenger list. In fact, there is no trace that we have been able to find that his wife, Vera Fedosimova, ever left the USA. None of the passengers on the list were certificated as having boarded the Pobeda so there is no evidence that Pavel left the USA.

It was common practice for the Soviets to use pseudonyms and to change identities even when moving from one city to another within North America. Despite extensive research, we have not been able to find another photograph of Pavel and in fact, we have no real evidence that the man in our photograph was Pavel Fedosinov apart from the fact that the note on the back of the photograph states that as his name. The same name turns up in the United Nations records but once again, no photographs exist.

The video clip that follows gives us a reason as to why there were no more photographs. It is an interview with Igor Gouzenko, 25 years after his defection. Had he changed his appearance? He believed he was under threat of death if his face was to be shown. Historically, such defectors were assassinated, was this the fate that befell the Somerton Man?

In closing, there are those that scoff and snear at the very idea that there could be two men called Pavel Fedosimov and with wives called Vera. That would be naive in the extreme, intelligence services of all sides practiced the fine art of tradecraft including that of changing identities at will. Everything about the Somerton Man case points to it being an espionage case To borrow some wise words from Churchill:

 The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, Ignorance may deride it 

but in the end, there it is.

The espionage scenario is the only one that has stood the tests of time and numerous attacks, I have never felt the need to attack the works of others except in direct defence. 

In the end, what I have said will be either proven to be right, part right or totally wrong. I accept that those are the only real outcomes.

I will close this post off with a question, there's something else that characterises both Gouzenko and Fedosimov cases. Can you spot it?