2RHPZ
09-20-2005, 03:20 AM
Book says Cold War KGB had major foothold in India
By Jeremy Lovell
Reuters
Monday, September 19, 2005; 4:30 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's feared KGB spy service penetrated all levels of the Indian government under Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and became a major cash backer of her Congress (R) party, according to a book published on Monday.
The KGB operation in India during that period was its largest in the world outside the Soviet bloc and it even had to create a new department to handle it, according to The Mitrokhin Archive II based on the KGB's own secret files.
"During 1975 a total of 10.6 million rubles was spent on active measures in India designed to strengthen support for Mrs Gandhi and undermine her political opponents," the book says.
The Congress party, which currently heads India's federal coalition government, rejected the allegations.
"It's a completely baseless story intended only for sensationalism," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said in New Delhi, adding that the book was not based on official archives.
But the main opposition group, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded an investigation.
"The perception of Congress-KGB links has always been there. The book only makes it stronger. We want a federal probe into this," BJP party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
The book is the second volume detailing the Cold War activities of the KGB, based on top secret agency files stolen more than two decades ago by archivist Vasili Mitrokhin and handed over in 1992 when he defected to Britain.
The book says that suitcases of money were regularly taken into Gandhi's house to fund the Congress party, and in the 1977 poll which she lost, nine party candidates were KGB agents.
And when Gandhi returned to power in 1980, the KGB proceeded to influence Indian government policies by fuelling her paranoia of CIA plots through disinformation tactics backed by forged documents leaked to the press.
When Gandhi's son Rajiv took over from her after she was assassinated in 1984, the KGB continued to both court and scare him through lavish receptions and more tales of CIA plots.
The relationship only foundered when Rajiv lost power in 1989 and as the Soviet Union itself started to disintegrate.
...more @ Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091900196_2.html)
By Jeremy Lovell
Reuters
Monday, September 19, 2005; 4:30 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's feared KGB spy service penetrated all levels of the Indian government under Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and became a major cash backer of her Congress (R) party, according to a book published on Monday.
The KGB operation in India during that period was its largest in the world outside the Soviet bloc and it even had to create a new department to handle it, according to The Mitrokhin Archive II based on the KGB's own secret files.
"During 1975 a total of 10.6 million rubles was spent on active measures in India designed to strengthen support for Mrs Gandhi and undermine her political opponents," the book says.
The Congress party, which currently heads India's federal coalition government, rejected the allegations.
"It's a completely baseless story intended only for sensationalism," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said in New Delhi, adding that the book was not based on official archives.
But the main opposition group, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded an investigation.
"The perception of Congress-KGB links has always been there. The book only makes it stronger. We want a federal probe into this," BJP party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
The book is the second volume detailing the Cold War activities of the KGB, based on top secret agency files stolen more than two decades ago by archivist Vasili Mitrokhin and handed over in 1992 when he defected to Britain.
The book says that suitcases of money were regularly taken into Gandhi's house to fund the Congress party, and in the 1977 poll which she lost, nine party candidates were KGB agents.
And when Gandhi returned to power in 1980, the KGB proceeded to influence Indian government policies by fuelling her paranoia of CIA plots through disinformation tactics backed by forged documents leaked to the press.
When Gandhi's son Rajiv took over from her after she was assassinated in 1984, the KGB continued to both court and scare him through lavish receptions and more tales of CIA plots.
The relationship only foundered when Rajiv lost power in 1989 and as the Soviet Union itself started to disintegrate.
...more @ Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091900196_2.html)