Honey Trap for the Ambassador
On April 23, 2017, despite repeated phone calls to an apartment in the heart of Moscow, no one answered. Finally, they came to the door and rang the bell, but there was no answer. Finally, the police were called, who broke down the door and found an elderly woman sitting motionless on the sofa. It was Larisa Kronberg (Sobolevskaya), a former actress. She was 87 years old.
In 1954, Larisa made her debut in the Soviet film “The Big Family” directed by I. Kheifets, in the role of Zina Ivanova, where in 1955 at the Cannes International Film Festival she received a prize in the nomination “Best Acting Ensemble” (“Prix d'interpretation collectif"), which still lingers in the memories of some viewers. And over the three decades of her acting career, she starred in numerous films, including "Girl with a Guitar," "Oleko Dundich," and "Bride from the North."
The film "A Big Family" tells the story of the large Zhurbin family, descended from hereditary workers at a shipyard, where three generations live together. Larisa Kromberg played Zinaida Pavlovna Ivanova, a process engineer and young specialist. The film was based on Vsevolod Kochetov's novel "The Zhurbins" and was shot at a shipyard in Mykolaiv.
But Larisa Ivanovna played perhaps her most impressive role not in her usual Moscow film studio pavilion, but in a "performance" where the scriptwriters and directors were officers from the 2nd Main Directorate of the KGB (counterintelligence)...
In the photo on the left: a still from the Soviet-Yugoslav adventure film "Oleko Dundich" (1958) directed by Leonid Lukov, where Larisa Kronberg played Irina Tumanova, the daughter of a White Guard colonel. In the photo in the center: A still from the feature film about a collective farm, "The Girls Sowed Flax" (1956). Larisa Kronberg plays the cheerful tractor driver Zosya Koroleva. Pictured right: a still from the Soviet comedy film "Bride from the North" (1975), where Larisa Kronberg played the role of Marfa, a teacher
Retrospective
In the 1950s, the Soviet Union and the United States were at the peak of the Cold War, with the Soviet Union seeking to wrest Western Europe from the complete influence and control of the United States while significantly weakening NATO. To divide the West, the Soviet Union needed France, where the Fourth Republic was characterized by political instability and the rise of communist influence, as a powerful battering ram.
In March-April 1960, N. S. Khrushchev made an official visit to France, where he was hosted by President Charles de Gaulle. The trip included, in addition to official ceremonies in Paris, visits to the French provinces and industrial sites, such as the plant Renault, as well as personal talks between the two leaders, during which they discussed important issues of East-West relations. The purpose of the visit was to assess mutual strengths and improve relations. After Khrushchev's departure for Bordeaux, a certain Cardinal Paul Rechot called for continuous anti-communist masses in all churches, as Khrushchev was considered a persecutor of the church throughout Eastern Europe.
And that's precisely why the Kremlin decided to use France as leverage against overseas influence in Europe and the disintegration of NATO. But to do so, the Soviet Union needed a high-ranking agent to know what was going on in the French corridors of power and at closed foreign policy meetings on the Quai d'Orsay (the French Foreign Ministry). But even more importantly, the USSR wanted such a person, who would one day emerge, to be positioned within the corridors of power and influence all decisions of the French government.
“…The order comes from the very top…”
And in December 1955, such a man appeared in Moscow—Maurice Dejean, recently appointed ambassador to the USSR, representing a very valuable asset for the KGB's Second Chief Directorate! But Dejean was more than just an ambassador; he was a longtime comrade of French President Charles de Gaulle, dating back to the Resistance, and always heeded his pronouncements on relations with the Soviet Union and on matters of international policy.
Maurice Dejean, French Ambassador to Moscow. Maurice Dejean (1899–1982). After graduating from university, he served as press secretary at the French embassy in Berlin from 1930 to 1939, while simultaneously collaborating with French intelligence. With the outbreak of World War II, he became one of the heads of the Foreign Ministry in Édouard Daladier's cabinet. In 1941, he went to Great Britain, where he joined Charles de Gaulle's Resistance group and was appointed Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. From 1945 to 1949, he served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia, helping citizens emigrate, and in 1950 he was appointed ambassador to Japan, where he served for three years. From December 1955 to February 1964, he was French ambassador to the USSR. In the photo in the centerMaurice Dejean outside the Soviet Foreign Ministry building
And, having closely examined the ambassador, the KGB identified him as its first target for recruitment. Oleg Mikhailovich Gribanov, deputy head of the Second Main Directorate and then a colonel who took charge of the operation, put it this way:The order comes from the very top – Nikita Sergeyevich himself wants to be caught."...
"...Laura was the most spectacular of all the "swallows..."
But how to do it? Dejean wasn't the type of man to be seduced by money, but he had a wandering eye, a weakness for young women, and an insatiable sexual appetite, making him a ready-made client for the "honey trap" the KGB, who knew exactly how to do it, planned to lure him into.
According to the memoirs of Yuri Krotkov, who also participated in this operation and later defected to the West, the KGB targeted young aspiring actresses to seduce Western diplomats, then compromise them and recruit them. For this work, they were offered a variety of incentives—from promises of better roles in theater and film to money, fashionable clothes, a modicum of freedom and fun, which young people sometimes lacked in ordinary Soviet life.
Pictured right: Larisa Kronberg as Galya in the feature film about aviation Naval Pilot School "Stars on Wings" (1955)
Note. Yuri Vasilyevich Krotkov (1917–1981) was a Soviet playwright, screenwriter for Mosfilm, and KGB officer who defected to the West in 1963. His defection and subsequent testimony provided valuable information about KGB operations, particularly the use of sexual provocation against foreign citizens.
According to Yuri Krotkov, the KGB called such girls "swallows" (and the men who seduced them "crows"). They were provided with specially equipped apartments ("nests") for meetings with their targets, each apartment consisting of two adjoining rooms: one for the meeting, and the other for the KGB task force, which recorded everything on tape for subsequent blackmail.
Larisa Kronberg (bottom row, second from left, to the right of S. A. Gerasimov) in her VGIK course. To her left is Iya Arepina. Also pictured are L. Gaidai, N. Grebeshkova, and other students. 1953.
And in the young actress Larisa Kronberg, the KGB found the ideal candidate for their operation, assigning her the operational codename "Laura," who was an unbridled and adventurous person, bold and daring, and always ready to take on any role offered to her.
She also agreed to this “role,” fully accepting the KGB’s offer for plans to recruit Ambassador Maurice Dejean, and her reward for the work she had done was to be a Moscow residence permit and an apartment in Moscow.
But let's return to Yuri Krotkov's memoirs, where he describes "Laura" this way: "Laura was the most striking of all the 'swallows.' Long-legged and seductive, with a beautiful face and a captivating laugh."
And the operation, codenamed "Galant," began...
“There is no fool better than an old fool!”
At one reception, during a "chance meeting" at Sergei Mikhalkov's dacha outside Moscow, and to make matters more convincing, Larisa was introduced to Ambassador Dejean by Mikhalkov himself and his wife, Natalya Konchalovskaya. He took one look at her and immediately fell in love. Apparently, he was so naive that he believed the cover story the KGB had prepared for her: she was married, and her husband was a geologist on a long scientific expedition in Siberia. And this "husband" of hers was madly in love with her, jealous, and prone to violent outbursts.
In the photo on the left: Sergei Mikhalkov's country house on Nikolina Gora. Pictured rightSergei Mikhalkov with his wife, Natalya Konchalovskaya. Sergei Mikhalkov, a classic of children's literature, knew a huge number of people. And the security services exploited these connections.
It should be noted here that Larisa was an unrivaled actress, and the aging diplomat, like a hungry fish, swallowed everything at once: hook and bait! That's the right expression: "There is no fool better than an old fool!"...
“…I want you to beat him up properly…”
Meanwhile, the KGB had already begun to close in on Dejean from another angle: he was "accidentally" introduced to a certain Oleg Gorbunov, a high-ranking official from the Council of Ministers with access to the highest Kremlin offices. In reality, this was Oleg Mikhailovich Gribanov, the head of Operation Galant, now a major general.
Oleg Mikhalovich Gribanov (1915-1992) was a high-ranking Soviet KGB officer who served as the head of the Second Main Directorate of the KGB (after Operation Galant) and was a controversial figure known for his active role in shaping counterintelligence operations during the Cold War. Having joined the KGB in the 1930s, he rose through the ranks to become one of the KGB's most prominent leaders, eventually heading the Second Main Directorate (domestic counterintelligence) with the rank of lieutenant general. His tenure in this position spanned a turbulent period of the Cold War, when he oversaw major espionage cases such as the Penkovsky affair and "honey trap" operations targeting Western diplomats.
And Oleg Mikhailovich managed to create the impression in Ambassador Dejean that he enjoyed enormous influence in the Kremlin corridors of power, and Dejean, like a true Frenchman, was charmed by the courtesy and sophistication of his new friend, and began to consult with him on any issues related to his work at the embassy.
By coincidence, Maurice Dejean's wife, Marie-Claire, left Moscow for a vacation in the Swiss Alps. Now the time had come to launch the recruitment plan!
But just before the plan was put into action, Oleg Gribanov summoned his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Kunavin, and a certain Tatar named Musa, a former criminal working for the KGB, for a final briefing.
«I want you to beat him up real bad. Beat him up real bad and scare him real bad! But I'm warning you: if you leave even one scratch on his face, I'll put you both in jail.».
Larisa, for her part, was only happy to play the role of seductress.
“…This is my husband!”
According to the KGB scriptwriters, Larisa was supposed to invite Dejan to her home for a date, and as soon as the lovers were about to fall into bed, they would be caught off guard by an enraged "husband," who had unexpectedly returned from a business trip. This role of Larisa's "husband" was to be played by a former Tatar criminal, Musa (Misha).
Everything went exactly as the KGB directors had planned: as soon as Dejean showed up at her apartment (the apartment was located in a building on Ananyevsky Lane and was already packed with equipment), a genuine love affair immediately flared up between them.
В In house No. 2 on Ananyevsky Lane, Maurice Dejean and Larisa Kronberg had their love affair
Suddenly the door swung open and the “husband” and his “geologist friend” entered the room. "This is my husband!" " Larisa screamed in horror, covering her face with her hands. And then all hell broke loose - the enraged "husband" pulled the naked couple out of bed and began beating the ambassador with his fists, shouting that "He'll kill him, and what if he spent the whole day flying across the country from Siberia to be alone with his wife, and then this happens...".
Larisa was also hit in the face and kicked for greater effect, and all this time, like a born actress, she pretended to be something unimaginable, screaming and crying: "Stop! You'll kill him! He's the French ambassador!"
"I don't care who he is!" — answered the angry “husband Misha.” "I'll teach him a lesson.".
Ultimately, as planned, Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Kunavin, aka "the husband's friend," grabbed "the husband Misha" and, restraining him from further violence, said, "What if he really is the French ambassador? Maybe you should stop?"
Misha stopped, but declared that this was only the beginning and that he would complain about the ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that soon the whole world would find out what a disgusting pig this French ambassador was!
And Dejan had no choice but to gather his clothes, get to the car, which, as a precaution, was parked a few blocks from Larisa’s house, and drive off to his embassy.
“…Look what you’ve done to me!”
Immediately after Dejan left, a celebration of the success of the operation began in the apartment, a bottle of champagne was opened, and all the participants in this “performance” rushed to congratulate Larisa, and Gribanov declared: "You were just perfect!".
At this, Larisa laughed and said, "You're forgetting, I'm an actress." Then, her face darkening and pointing to her bruises, she reproachfully said to Kunavin, "Look what you've done to me!"
“…I will be very grateful to you for anything you can do…”
By late afternoon, Dejean had arrived at his dacha for a dinner meeting with a Soviet official. His hospitable host was already waiting for him there—the same man who, just hours earlier, had secretly observed his beating and had installed special equipment in his apartment several days earlier. Now, according to the operation plan, the KGB wanted to give Dejean the opportunity to turn to his "friend" and "high-ranking official from the Council of Ministers, with access to the highest Kremlin offices," Oleg Gorbunov (aka Oleg Gribanov, a KGB general) for the help he now so desperately needed.
Throughout the business dinner, Dejan barely maintained the appearance of a cheerful and happy guest, although his body ached from the experience. But after dinner, he immediately pulled his "friend" aside and quietly said to him: "I have serious problems. I need your help..."
In the photo on the left: pensioner O. M. Gribanov. Pictured right: O. M. Gribanov's image appears on a postage stamp from the "100th Anniversary of Counterintelligence" series. The stamp was issued on May 6, 2022.
After listening to Dejan's confession, Gribanov thought hard and began to explain to the ambassador that his case was very serious and that the law was on the husband's side, and that if he filed a lawsuit, a real scandal could result.
To which Dejan replied: "I will be very grateful to you for anything you can do.".
A "high-ranking official from the Council of Ministers" promised Dijan to do everything in his power, but immediately added that he was not entirely sure that this matter could be hushed up somehow...
In the following days, Dejean repeatedly begged Gribanov to hush up the matter, but Gribanov merely mocked him, saying that Larisa's husband was both stubborn and unreasonable. Finally, one day, he told Dejean: "My friends have persuaded this man to keep quiet for the sake of Soviet-French relations, and if he doesn't change his mind, everything will be fine."
French Ambassador Maurice Dejean throughout his life...
After this, Dejean was immensely grateful to him, and Gribanov, for his part, showed himself the epitome of tact and never mentioned the matter again. From then on, Dejean entrusted him with all matters of state that concerned him as ambassador...
“…Mr. Ambassador, there has been an accident…”
Intoxicated by their success with Dejean, the KGB now turned their attention to Colonel Louis Guibault, the air attaché at the French embassy. Special equipment secretly installed in his apartment revealed that his family life was far from happy: the Guibaults quarreled frequently and violently. This spurred the KGB operatives to action…
But this time, the tried-and-true tactic of recruiting Colonel Guibaud for the KGB using a "swallow" ended in failure. Three civilian men met with him and laid out numerous photographs depicting his affairs with the "swallows," after which he was offered a stark choice: secret collaboration with the KGB or public disgrace. Guibaud was stunned and agonized over this dilemma for weeks, before shooting himself.
Ambassador Dejean was informed: ["Mr. Ambassador, there has been an accident."] Dejean entered his office and found the colonel sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood at his desk, with a revolver by his side, and his wife, bending over the body, sobbing and caressing her husband's face.
He was survived by his wife and two children, who visited him in Moscow during school holidays…
News of the military attaché's death sparked panic in the KGB's Second Chief Directorate. The fear was that Guibaud might have left a suicide note revealing the "honey trap" he had fallen into. When Soviet agents discovered this was not the case, the KGB breathed a sigh of relief, and rumors began to circulate in diplomatic circles that Guibaud had committed suicide due to serious quarrels with his wife.
The real reasons for Guibo's suicide would have remained a secret forever, until one of the main players in Dejean's recruitment operation, the scoundrel Yuri Krotkov, a screenwriter and KGB officer, defected to the West and revealed all the secrets of the covert operations to recruit Colonel Guibo and Ambassador Dejean.
“Eh bien, Dejean, on couche...”
Following the revelations of the escaped Yuri Krotkov, the ambassador was quietly recalled to Paris and subjected to a thorough investigation, but fortunately for Dejean, French counterintelligence was unable to prove anything.
In Paris, de Gaulle carefully studied the final report presented to him by counterintelligence, then called his friend into his office, looked down at him and said with a melancholy voice: "Eh bien, Dejean, on the couch" ("So, Dejan, you slept with him.") After which he asked him to leave his office without even shaking his hand...
Conclusion
As a result of Operation Galant, Maurice Dejean became an agent of Soviet influence—he now gave advice to the president, with whom he had a close and trusting relationship, that would be beneficial to the USSR. And de Gaulle most likely withdrew his country from NATO, in part, based on the advice of his friend Dejean.
Maurice Dejean with his wife Marie-Claire Dejean at the collection show Dior in Moscow at the Krylya Sovetov House of Culture under the direction of Yves Saint Laurent, 1959. The series of photos for Life magazine was called "Models Dior strolling through conservative Moscow in 1959"
And after de Gaulle asked NATO headquarters to leave Paris, all Western partners began to consider France an unreliable partner.
And it was a clear success!
But the ambassador didn't share confidential information with the KGB and convey the Soviet government's views to the French president for free. He was given space in Soviet newspapers and magazines to express his opinions, for which he was paid large fees. And on holidays, the Soviet state presented him with antiques, and his wife with expensive jewelry.
The fates of the main characters
Maurice Dejean (1899–1982). That de Gaulle's attitude toward Dejean, who had fallen into the honey trap, remained benevolent is evidenced by the fact that he was not subjected to any punishment, but was simply quietly dismissed with the payment of a full state pension. And already in retirement, Dejean joined the board of directors of a joint-stock company. Slava SA, where Soviet "Slava" wristwatches were assembled. A little later, Dejean joined the board of the "USSR-France" society, where he worked until his death in 1982, strengthening friendship between peoples. Incidentally, he was not forgotten in Moscow, and on his 80th birthday, he was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
Joint-Stock Company Plant Slava SA In the French city of Besançon, where the watch cases and hands were French, and the movement was from the 2nd Moscow Watch Factory "Slava." Maurice Dejean was on the board of this joint-stock company (according to other sources, he was the president of this company).
Larisa Kronberg-Sobolevskaya (1929–2017). Having received a Moscow residence permit, an apartment, and a diamond necklace for her participation in Operation Galant, Larisa Ivanovna never became a screen star for the rest of her acting career. Although she appeared in numerous films, she was largely unnoticed, and only landed roles thanks to her friend Nonna Mordyukova. She occasionally worked as a dubbing artist, but finally ended her career with a role in the 1987 film "Marriage Loan." And that was her final role.
In the photo on the left: Larisa Kronberg in later life. Pictured right: her burial place is at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery...
In the final years of her life, suffering from bronchial asthma, Larisa became a complete recluse, communicating only with social workers who, as part of their job, visited her several times a week. She is buried at Vagankovskoye Cemetery.
O. M. Gribanov (1915–1992). In 1965, as a lieutenant general, he was dismissed from the reserve for incompetence after his subordinate Yuri Nosenko* defected to the West, stripped of his "Honorary Employee of State Security" badge, and expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He then worked in the Ministry of Health, from where he was dismissed "for gross violation of financial discipline." He then worked as director of a computer plant and at a center of the USSR State Committee for Science and Technology.
O. M. Gribanov's burial place in Moscow at Kotlyakovskoye Cemetery. Oleg Mikhailovich Gribanov never held a leadership position in the Soviet nomenklatura, but he continued to exert considerable and covert influence in the public sphere as the author of popular spy novels under the pseudonym Oleg Shmelev, based on little-known KGB archival documents.
Having finally retired, he was engaged in literary activity, writing under the pseudonym Oleg Shmelev and was the author of numerous detective stories and film scripts, including a script for the film “Resident Error"(1967) and"Resident's return" (1979). He was buried in Moscow at the Kotlyakovskoye Cemetery...
Krotkov Yu. V. (1927–1981). Yury Krotkov was a writer and playwright, working for TASS and Radio Moscow. He also worked for the KGB, where he specialized in sexually seducing and blackmailing foreign diplomats using attractive Soviet women known as "swallows." In 1963, allegedly feeling guilty for the suicide of the French military attaché, Colonel Louis Guibaud, he defected while arriving in London with a Soviet delegation.
Later, after moving to the United States, he testified about KGB methods to the US Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security under the pseudonym "George Carlin." While in the US, he wrote the books "I Am from Moscow," "The Red Monarch," and "The Nobel Prize," and even wrote an entire play on the subject of the seduction of the French ambassador. One former CIA officer believed that Yuri Krotkov was a false defector, deliberately planted in the West by the KGB, just like Yuri Nosenko*, who defected to the West.
Help. Lieutenant Colonel (according to other sources, Major) Yuri Nosenko was the son of a high-ranking Soviet minister who contacted the CIA in Geneva in 1964 and subsequently defected to the United States. During interrogations, he claimed to have personally handled the Lee Harvey Oswald case during his stay in the Soviet Union (1959–1962) and maintained that the KGB did not recruit Oswald or participate in his assassination. Some American counterintelligence officials believed Nosenko to be a KGB agent, specifically sent to spread disinformation.
Sources of: the article was written based on materials from the books by Y. Krotkov “KGB in Action”, J. Barron “KGB”, I. G. Atamanenko “Spies Are Not Born” and materials from Russian and foreign publications.
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