The CIA and British intelligence supported anti-communist guerrillas in Ukraine during the Cold War. All the while, a traitor at the heart of MI6 was sabotaging their secret operations.
- MI6 worked in the late 1940s with Stepan Bandera, a former Nazi collaborator whose forces murdered thousands of Jews
- This January, Ukraine’s parliament commemorated Bandera’s birthday
On February 24th, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6 tweeted: “One year ago today, Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. But the Kremlin fatally underestimated both the courage and determination of the Ukrainian people, and the unity of their allies in the face of Russian aggression. MI6 stands proudly with Ukraine”.
This is compelling rhetoric. But MI6 has been less keen to publicise its murky history of support for Ukraine’s resistance against Russia. During the Cold War, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, MI6 covertly backed anti-communist rebels, with disastrous results.
A traitor at the heart of MI6 was betraying the guerrilla movement, feeding back their positions to Stalin, who ruthlessly rounded them up. The Kremlin viewed the rebels, not without foundation, as far-right militants who had supported the Nazis during World War Two.
The little-known episode centres on Britain’s most infamous double agent, Kim Philby, a member of the Cambridge spy ring – students who were recruited at the elite university by the KGB. Philby became a high-ranking MI6 officer with access to Ukrainian resistance plans, which he leaked to his Russian handlers. (more...)
When MI6 Betrayed Ukraine’s Resistance to Russia
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