The Sherbakov Dilemma

(Note the two different spellings of this name, the Shcherbakov being the Russian form and the Scherbakov spelling being the Western version. In the MI5 files it is spelled SHERBAKOV)

As many will know, Sherbakov (Shcherbakov), was a name on the list of passengers who were delegates to the Lapstone ( Ecafe) Conference due to start on 29th November 1948. These delegates landed first in Darwin around 27th November. 1948. MI5 files and other documents mention Sherbakov as being amongst those delegates. Photographs were taken which we have yet to source. Amongst the files mention was made of the fact that Sherbakov was not actually seen at the Lapstone conference in the Blue Mountains near Sydney and neither was a secretary by the name of Bogotyreva. In fact, there is no record of either of them leaving Australia.

With the help of PeteDavo, we dug deeper and found a list of those of the Shcherbaov name who were for one reason or another, regarded as 'notable'

On first reading about the Scherbakov connection, it all looks quite straightforward. That is until you read a little more.

Please bear with me as we first look at the list notable bearers of the Schcherbakov/Sherbakov name:

Albert Shcherbakov (born 1976), Russian footballer

Aleksandr Shcherbakov (born 1998), Russian footballer

Aleksandr Shcherbakov (1925–2013), Soviet aircraft pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union

Aleksandr Shcherbakov (1901–1945), Soviet statesman and politician

Anna Shcherbakova (born 2004), Russian figure skater

Boris Shcherbakov (born 1949), Russian actor

Denis Scherbakov (born 1978), Belarusian football referee

Denys Shcherbakov (born 1988), Ukrainian orienteer

Konstantin Scherbakov (born 1963), Russian pianist

Konstantin Shcherbakov (born 1997), Russian footballer

Leonid Shcherbakov (born 1927), Soviet athlete

Mikhail Shcherbakov (born 1963), Russian singer-songwriter

Oleg Shcherbakov (born 1966), Russian footballer

Pyotr Shcherbakov (1929–1992), Soviet actor

Ruslan Shcherbakov (born 1969), Russian chess player

Sergei Scherbakov (1918–1994), Russian boxer

Sergey Shcherbakov (1962–1988), Soviet serial killer

Serhiy Scherbakov (born 1971), Ukrainian footballer

Svetlana Shcherbakova (born 1988), Russian weightlifter

Vadim Shcherbakov (fl. 1966–1991), Soviet military advisor to North Vietnam

Vasily Shcherbakov (born 1969), Russian musician and professor, grand-nephew of the composer Dmitry Kabalevsky

Vladimir Shcherbakov (1945–1993), Soviet footballer

Vladimir Shcherbakov (1909–1985), Soviet scientist and politician

Yevgeni Shcherbakov (born 1986), Russian footballer

You can immediately delete a number of people from this list based on their DOB and you are left with those highlighted. We had another name in this list as a possible contender and that was Aleksander Shcherbakov who was born in 1901 but, sadly he died in May 1945. We'll come back to that death in a minute suffice to say that this man was the head of the Sovinform Bureau during the war years.

We have 3 contenders from this list, one a boxer, one a politician and the other a Hero of the Soviet Union and a pilot whose name also happens to be Aleksandr Shcherbakov. 

We published the name of Sergei Sherbakov in an earlier post, he was an athlete and an ex-special forces man who had seen action behind enemy lines during WW2. (Coincidentally, Pavel Fedosimov had also been involved in such actions and the management of secret agents behind enemy lines during his time in Russia between 1942 and 1945). Sergei was a boxer and superbly fit. If we were looking for a contender to be involved in the assassination of the Somerton Man, Sergei would be a prime candidate or, so it would seem.

A second candidate because of his age and name and a connection is 

Aleksandr Shcherbakov, a Pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union. He was also the son of the Politician Aleksandr Shcherbakov, highlighted above. This Aleksandr was to become a test pilot and was involved in the testing of the Mig 21 amongst other aircraft. He wrote an interesting article on the TU 144 crash, (Russian version of the Concord) in later years.

The third candidate from the list was Vladimir Shcherbakov, born 1909,  he was a Russian scientist and a politician. At this time we do not have a photograph nor much information on this man save to say that he was, from June 1947 to July 1951 – First Secretary of the Kaliningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) In 1950 he was appointed a member of the  Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, There is no mention of his being part of the Ecafe meetings in Lapstone. This is not a man who would be involved in an assassination attempt.

Note. All three of the persons named returned to Russia and lived to reach good ages.

A suspicious death

Back to the younger Aleksandr Shcherbakov, he was named after his father,  Aleksandr Shcherbakov, a Colonel-General in the Russian Army during WW2 and a director of the SIB (Soviet Information Bureaux), the Soviet news agency during WW2,. Sadly Aleksandr senior died in May 1945 from heart failure, he was just 43 years of age. 

(A side note of possible interest, Shcherbakov senior lived in the same building as Stalin's son, Yakov and the two men and their wives were on friendly terms)

The 'Doctor's Plot'

At first, Aleksandr's death was put down to years of alcoholism but later, on 1953, TASS reported that his death was 'hastened' by Jewish Doctors, the beginning of the 'Doctors' plot.

Here's an extract from the article:

The anti-Jewish campaign was presumably set in motion by Stalin as a pretext to dismiss and replace Lavrenty Beria, prosecute other Soviet leaders, to launch a massive purge of the Communist Party, and, according to Edvard Radzinsky, even to consolidate the country for a future World War III.

In 1951, Ministry for State Security (MGB) investigator Mikhail Ryumin reported to his superior, Viktor Abakumov, Minister of the MGB, that Professor Yakov Etinger, who was arrested as a "bourgeois nationalist" with connections to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, had committed malpractice in treating Andrei Zhdanov (died 1948) and Alexander Shcherbakov (died 1945), allegedly with the intention of killing them. However, Abakumov refused to believe the story. Etinger died in prison (2 March 1951) due to interrogations and harsh conditions. Ryumin was then dismissed from his position in the MGB for misappropriating money and was held responsible for the death of Etinger. With the assistance of Georgy Malenkov, Ryumin wrote a letter to Stalin, accusing Abakumov of killing Etinger in order to hide a conspiracy to kill off the Soviet leadership. On 4 July 1951, the Politburo set up a commission (headed by Malenkov and including Beria) to investigate the issue. Based on the commission's report, the Politburo soon passed a resolution on the "bad situation in the MGB" and Abakumov was fired.[5][6]

Beria and Malenkov both tried to use the situation to expand their power by gaining control of the MGB.

We now have a situation whereby a man Aleksandr Shcherbakov senior, a close friend of Stalin's son, died in suspicious circumstances in May 1945. Coincidentally just a few short months prior to Pavel Fedosimov, NKVD officer, returned to New York.

There are now 2 very clear persons of interest from this list. Aleksandr the Pilot and Sergei the boxer.

A Question of Motive

In the case of Sergei, he would have been trained in the art of killing during his special forces stint in WW2, he would be following orders and the killing, if he was involved, it would be nothing personal. He was supremely fit and disciplined he really would fit the bill.

But Aleksandr is a different kettle of fish altogether. What motive could he possibly have? What if his motive was revenge? What if he knew that his father's death was a put-up job, an assassination and he was given the opportunity to put things straight? What if Aleksandr was the 'Sherbakov' on the Qantas flight to Darwin?

The Missing Photographs

We mentioned earlier that within the delegate's documents, mention was made of there being photographs of the delegates on arrival in Darwin. If we can find those images then we may just be able to identify or eliminate one or both of these two people of interest.

More to follow