From Russia with Love: Dissidents, Defectors and the Politics of Asylum in Cold War India

ABSTRACT

During the Cold War defectors were invariably paraded as propaganda trophies. The wider political significance of defections has hitherto been interrogated almost exclusively in an East–West binary. Utilising recently declassified documents from three continents, attention is focused on the elided role played by the developing world in the Cold War asylum story and, specifically, that of non-aligned India. By reinterpreting international responses to three Soviet defections that occurred in India in the 1960s, new light is shed upon political asylum as a source of North–South tension and discord.

KEYWORDS:

• Defection
• asylum
• India
• Cold War
• Soviet Union

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Peter Joy to C.F.R. Barclay, 8 May 1964, FO 1110/182; ‘India,’ Visit of Nigel Clive to India and Pakistan, 5 Dec. 1967, FCO 95/290. Unless otherwise cited, all archival references are to the National Archives, London.

2 S. Mulgaokar, ‘The Right of Asylum,’ Weekend Review, (2, 5), 6 Jan. 1968, 3–4.

3 Cole (New Delhi) to Hunt (Commonwealth Office), ‘Political Asylum in India,’ 5 Jan. 1968, FCO 37/62.

4 Mulgaokar, ‘Right of Asylum,’ 3–4.

5 The Times of India, 21 Dec.1967, 1.

6 A. R. Wic, ‘The Ulug-Zade affair,’ Weekend Review (2, 5), 6 Jan. 1968, 6–7.

7 See, for example, Andrew, Defence of the Realm; Jeffreys-Jones, Cloak and Dollar; and Prados, Safe for Democracy. Some works have sought to engage with the intelligence Cold War from a broader global perspective, notably, Davies and Gustafson (eds.), Intelligence Elsewhere.

8 Scholarship addressing India's Cold War relations has largely ignored the issue of political asylum. The otherwise authoritative account of US-Indian relations produced by former American diplomat, Denis Kux, avoids the issue. See, Kux, India and the United States. Howard Schaffer, who served in the US Embassy in India in the 1960s, provides a brief account of the Alliluyeva episode in Chester Bowles. Rosemary Sullivan offers up an insightful view of Alliluyeva's defection from the Soviet citizen's perspective in, Stalin's Daughter. See also, Svetlana Alliluyeva's own account of her defection in, Only One Year.

9 See, Westad, The Cold War; Chamberlin, Cold War's Killing Fields; and, McMahon, ed., Cold War in the Third World.

10 Mišković et al., Non-Aligned Movement; Abraham, “From Bandung to NAM”; Lee, ed., Making a World After Empire; Bott et al., Neutrality and Neutralism. See also, Lewis and Stolte, eds., “Other Bandungs.”

11 Lüthi, “The Non-Aligned” in Mišković et al., Non-Aligned Movement, 97.

12 See, for example, Carruthers, Cold War Captives; Volodarsky, Stalin's Agent; Knight, How the Cold War Began. On the ‘Cambridge Five’ see, Knightley, Philby; Macintyre, Spy Amongst Friends; and Lownie, Stalin's Englishman.

13 For instance, Cherkashin, Spy Handler; Woodward, The Secret Wars of CIA; and Crile, Charlie Wilson's War.

14 Krasnov, Soviet Defectors, 116. In 1954, one prominent incident saw nine Soviet sailors from the tanker, Tuapse, which had been sized by Nationalist China off the cost of Formosa, defect to the US rather than return home. See, The New York Times, 14 Jan. 1956, 2.

15 Le Carrè, Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy.

16 Krasnov, Soviet Defectors, 109–120.

17 Aldrich, “Policing the Past,” 1.

18 Notably, official histories of British intelligence authored by the late Keith Jeffrey and Christopher Andrew have cast some light on the post-war operations of SIS and MI5. See, Jeffrey, MI6, and Andrew, Defence of the Realm.

19 Recent scholarship has examined facets of the secret intelligence dimension of South Asia's Cold War. However, this work has not yet touched upon defection or political asylum as a component of intelligence activity. See, for, example: Pullin, “Congress for Cultural Freedom”; McGarr, “Quiet Americans.”

20 See, Kaul's work in Reporting the Raj; Media and the British Empire; and Media and the Imperial Experience. Also, Finkelstein and Peers, eds., Negotiating India; and. Codell, ed., Imperial Co-Histories.

21 See, for example, Baghavan's emphasis on the centrality of human rights to early Indian foreign policymaking, in The Peacemakers.

22 Balachandran, National Security and Intelligence, 112.

23 See, Den Heijer. “Diplomatic Asylum”; UN Secretary-General, “Survey of International Law”; and, International Law Commission, ‘Summaries of the Work.’

24 ‘Draft declaration on right of asylum,’ 14 May 1959, Ministry of External Affairs [MEA], United Nations-I, File No.151(109)-UNI, National Archives of India , New Delhi [NAI].

25 Jawaharlal Nehru to Apa Pant, 11 Jul. 1958, Subject File 6, Apa B. Pant Papers, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi [NMML]; ‘Chinese Intentions against India,’ Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) report, 22 Nov. 1962, CAB 158/47. For a wider discussion of the Cold War politics associated with Chinese asylum seekers, see, Jacobs, “Exile Island.”

26 Memorandum of Conversation between Ambassador R. K. Nehru and Chou En-lai, 21 Apr. 1960, Subject File 26, NMML. See also, Guyot-Réchard, Shadow States, 185; and, Wasif Khan, Muslim, Trader, Nomad, Spy.

27 The evolution of Indo–U.S. relations under Eisenhower and Kennedy has received significant scholarly attention. See, for example, McGarr, Cold War in South Asia; McMahon, Cold War on the Periphery; and Dauer, North-South Mind.

28 Blake, No Other Choice. 167.

29 Ambassador Mary Seymour Olmsted, Oral History, 8 Apr. 1992, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. INTERNET, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/diplomacy/ (accessed 7 Feb. 2013).

30 Conboy and Morrison, CIA's Secret War, and Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War.

31 Andrew and Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive II, 9–10 and 312–14.

32 Kalugin, Spymaster, 141.

33 Tromly, “Ambivalent Heroes,” 1.

34 See, for example, ‘Working Party on Russian and Satellite Defectors and Refugees,’ CAB 301/136.

35 At the beginning of the 1950s, British officials conceded that, ‘The greater number of Soviet refugees who leave the service of their country and place themselves under our protection have relatively little or no long-term intelligence value … ’ Donaldson (MOD), 4 Aug. 1950, CAB 301/136. See, also, Richelson, US Intelligence Community, 328–32.

36 Macmillan's distaste for the secret world's work is documented in, amongst others, Horne, Macmillan, 457, and. Thorpe, Supermac, 310.

37 Minute of a meeting between Churchill, Nutting, Rennie and Kirkpatrick, 1 May 1954, PREM 11/773. A fictional rendering of SIS's proclivity for using the United States to extract propaganda value from Soviet defectors, that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Khokhlov case, appears in Le Carrè's, Secret Pilgrim, 152.

38 ‘Petrov Defection Policy,’ The Royal Commission on Espionage, 1954–55, Series Number A4940, C926, National Archives of Australia, Canberra. See also, Petrov, Empire of Fear.

39 Dick Cheney to Donald Rumsfeld, ‘Solzhenitsyn,’ 8 Jul. 1975, Box 10, folder ‘Solzhenitsyn, Alexander,’ Richard B. Cheney Files, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library (GFPL). See also, ‘The Ronald Reagan Column,’ 18 Jul. 1975, Box 39, Folder ‘Reagan – Newspaper Columns,’ Ron Nessen Papers, GFPL.

40 ‘Defection of a Russian Seaman,’ 790.

41 ‘Russian Defector Gives Witness to the Effectiveness of the Voice of America,’ Congressional Record, A5978, 23 Sep. 1963, CIA FOIA, CIA-RDP65B00383R000100050038-7.

42 Mr. Wye, ‘Vladimir Stepanovich Tarasov,’ 20 Dec. 1962, FCO 168/911; ‘Defection of a Russian Seaman,’ 790.

43 Sareen, Bid for Freedom, 13–16.

44 The New York Times, 22 Dec.1962, 2.

45 The New York Times, 20 Dec. 1962, 4.

46 Jugantar (Calcutta), 29 Nov. 1962.

47 Eastland to Ambassador Lodge (United Nations), Washington, 1 May 1956, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, United Nations and General International Matters, Volume XI, Document 23 https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v11/d23. See also, Life, 7 May 1956, 45–6.

48 The Times of India, 7 Jan. 1963, 7.

49 The Washington Post, 5 Jan. 1963, A6.

50 Mr. Wye, ‘Vladimir Stepanovich Tarasov,’ 20 Dec. 1962, FCO 168/911.

51 See, Soviet Embassy to MEA, no. 155, 30 Nov. 1962; MEA to Soviet Embassy, 30 Nov. 1962; and, MEA to Soviet Embassy, 29 Dec. 1962, NAI.

52 G. D. Khosla, ex-Chief Justice, Punjab High Court, foreword in Sareen, Bid for Freedom, iii–iv.

53 The Times of India, 11 Jan.1963, 8.

54 The Guardian, 11 Jan. 1963, 9.

55 Allen (Delhi) to Norris (Calcutta), No. 2402, 24 Dec. 1962, FCO 168/911.

56 Delhi to IRD (London), No. 2429, 27 Dec. 1962, FCO 168/911.

57 The New York Times, 31 Jan. 1963, 2.

58 Peter Joy (New Delhi) to J. L. Welser (IRD), 18 Jan. 1963, FCO 168/912.

59 J. L. Welser (IRD) to P.W. Kaufman (American Embassy, London) 28 Dec. 1962; New Delhi to CRO, No. 131, 12 Jan. 1963, FCO 168/911.

60 J. Rayner (IRD) to Peter Joy (New Delhi), 7 Feb. 1963, FCO 168/913.

61 The Times of India, 4 Mar.1963, 3.

62 Sareen, Bid for Freedom, 153–4.

63 The Guardian, 30 Mar. 1963, 7.

64 The Statesman, 1 Apr. 1963.

65 The Times of India, 1 Apr. 1963, 6.

66 W. F. King (BIS, New Delhi) to A. H. ‘Alec’ Joyce (CRO), ‘Communist Propaganda in the Indian Press,’ 27 Nov. 1948, FO 1110/44.

67 I. W. Mackley, ‘The Press in India: Some Statistics,’ 3 Jan. 1977, FCO 37/2000.

68 N. R. Patel to Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Action against Blitz for Miscellaneous Article,’ File No. 2/392, Private Papers of Sardar Patel, NAI.

69 Memorandum of meeting between James and Freeman, Karachi, 1 and 2 Feb. 1966, FO 371/186952.

70 ‘India: Dec. 1966,’ Despatch no. 27, John Freeman, 22 Dec. 1966, DO 196/310.

71 Smith, Unknown CIA, 13.

72 Bowles, ‘Defection of Svetlana Alliloueva,’ [sic], 15 Mar. 1967, N[ational] S[security] F[ile] Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas [LBJL].

73 The Economist, 29 Apr. 1967, 465.

74 Bowles (Delhi) to Rostow (Washington), 18 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

75 Bowles, ‘Defection of Svetlana Alliloueva,’ [sic], 15 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

76 Bowles (Delhi) to Rostow (Washington), 18 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

77 Delhi to Washington, 8 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

78 The Times of India, 7 Jun. 1967, 8.

79 Schaffer, Chester Bowles, 301.

80 Delhi to Washington, 9 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

81 Ibid.; Bowles to Jha, 10 Mar. 1967, see also ‘Defection of Svetlana Alliluyeva,’ 15 Mar. 1967, Box 326, Bowles Papers, Yale University Library.

82 Rusk (Washington) to Bowles (Delhi), 10 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

83 The Times, 13 Mar. 1967.

84 Sullivan, Stalin's Daughter, 9.

85 Komer to McGeorge Bundy, 26 Jul. 1965, NSF, Robert W. Komer Files, Box 13, Folder 1 Bowles 11-3-63-1965 [1 of 4], LBJL.

86 Komer to LBJ, 23 Mar. 1966, NSF Country File, India, Box 133, Folder 3 Prime Minister Gandhi Visit Papers [2 of 2] 3-27-30-66, LBJL.

87 Bendall to Smith, ‘Svetlana Stalin,’ 17 Mar. 1967, FCO 28/397; Trench (Washington) to Duff (Commonwealth Office), ‘Stalin's Daughter,’ 31 Mar. 1967, FCO 37/76.

88 Waterfield (New Delhi) to Duff (Commonwealth Office), ‘Stalin's Daughter,’ 17 Mar. 1967, FCO 37/76.

89 Thompson (Moscow) to Rusk (Washington) 21 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

90 Maxey (Moscow) to Clift (FO), ‘Svetlana Alleyuyeva,’ 17 Mar. 1967, FCO 28/397.

91 Thompson (Moscow) to Rusk (Washington) 21 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

92 See, Lok Sabha Starred Question no. 125, 29 May 1967, AMS, WII/125/47/68, MEA; Lok Sabha exchange between M. C. Chagla and P. Ramamurti, 29 May 1967, AMS, WII/125/47/68, MEA; and Lok Sabha Starred Question No.1, George Fernandes regarding activities of CIA, 20 Mar. 1967, WII/125/11/76 P&I, AMS Division, MEA, NAI.

93 J. P. Waterfield (New Delhi) to A.A. Duff (SAD, CO), ‘The C.I.A. in India,’ 31 Mar. 1967, FCO 168/2649.

94 Bowles to Rusk, 20 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

95 Ibid.

96 Bowles to Rusk, 21 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

97 The New York Times, 24 Mar. 1967.

98 Rusk to Bowles, 21 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

99 Waterfield (New Delhi) to Duff (Commonwealth Office), 17 Mar. 1967, FCO 37/76.

100 ‘Record of conversation between High Commissioner and L.K. Jha,’ 15 May 1967, FO 37/76.

101 Waterfield (New Delhi) to Duff (Commonwealth Office), 18 Apr. 1967, FCO 37/76; Fall (Moscow) to Eastern Department FO, 19 Apr. 1967, FCO 28/397.

102 Bowles to Rusk, 31 Mar. 1967, NSF, Box 3, Folder Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin), LBJL.

103 The Times, 5 Apr. 1967.

104 The Times of India, 5 Apr. 1967, 12.

105 The Times of India, 6 Apr. 1967, 1.

106 Simons (New Delhi) to Purcell (South Asia Department), 7 Apr. 1967, FCO 37/76.

107 Gore-Booth to Lord Hood, ‘Miss Stalin's Defection,’ 27 Apr.1967, FO 95/14.

108 Memorandum, ‘Svetlana,’ unsigned and undated, FO 95/14.

109 J. G. McMinnies, ‘Publicity in India for Soviet Writers’ Trial,’ 3 Apr. 1968; Gopal Mittal, ‘Unending Soviet War on Intellectuals,’ FCO 168/3402.

110 Greenhill to P.U.S., ‘Miss Stalin's Defection,’ 28 Apr. 1967, FO 95/14.

111 The Times of India, 7 Jun. 1967, 8.

112 Giffard (FO) to Greenhill, ‘Svetlana Stalin's Book,’ 20 Sep. 1967, FCO 28/397; Day (FO) to Stewart (Education and Science), 22 Sep. 1967, FCO 28/397.

113 Minute by McMinnies (IRD), 20 Oct.1969, FCO 37/375.

114 Peck to Permanent Under-Secretary, ‘Svetlana,’ 25 May 1967, FO 95/14.

115 Sunday Telegraph, 28 May 1967.

116 The Times of India, 7 Jun. 1967, 8.

117 The National Review, 19 (18), 9 May 1967, 1.

118 The Times of India, 7 Jun. 1967, 8.

119 Harrison (Moscow) to FO, ‘Svetlana Stalin,’ 27 May 1967, FCO 28/397.

120 Daily Mail, 3 Nov. 1984.

121 The Times of India, 21 Dec. 1967, 1.

122 Indian Embassy (Moscow) Political Report for Dec. 1967, 9 Jan. 1968, Monthly Political Reports (Other than Annual) from Embassy of India, Moscow, File No. HI/1012(57)/67, R& I, MEA, NAI.

123 Ibid.

124 See, Smith, CIA Agent in India.

125 Indian Embassy (Moscow) Political Report for Dec. 1967, 9 Jan. 1968, Monthly Political Reports (Other than Annual) from Embassy of India, Moscow, File No. HI/1012(57)/67, R& I, MEA, NAI.

126 H. H. D Lancashire (New Delhi) to Miss C. Stephenson (FO/CO), 4 Jan. 1968, FCO 168/2649.

127 The Times of India, 21 Dec. 1967, 1.

128 The Times, 22 Dec. 1967, 1.

129 The Times of India, 21 Dec. 1967, 1.

130 Rimington, Open Secret, 74.

131 Joseph N. Greene, JR., interview with Charles Stuart Kennedy, 12 Mar. 1993, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, INTERNET, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/diplomacy/ (accessed 7 Feb. 2013).

132 The Times of India, 22 Dec.1967, 1.

133 Ibid.

134 Cole (New Delhi) to Hunt (Commonwealth Office), ‘Political Asylum in India,’ 5 Jan. 1968, FCO 37/62.

135 The Times of India, 23 Dec. 1967, 9.

136 Ibid.

137 Ibid.

138 The Times of India, 27 Dec. 1967, 9.

139 N. D. Clive (IRD) to Mr. Jackson (PUSD) ‘Publicity for Mr. Oualouzade,’ 5 Jan. 1968; N. P. Payne (IRD) to Mr. Welser and Mr. Clive, 8 Jan. 1968, FCO 168/2850.

140 J. G. McMinnies (London) to H.H.D Lancashire (New Delhi), 22 Dec. 1968; Lancashire to McMinnies, 4 Jan. 1968, FCO 168/2850.

141 After securing asylum in the UK, Oulog-Zade was employed by the BBC's Russian section and actively cooperated with the British intelligence services in publicising intellectual discontent behind the Iron Curtain in a series of articles carried by the British and the wider international press. H. H. Tucker (IRD) to Mark Hamilton, 20 Feb. 1968; J. O’Connor Howe minute to Mr. Bayne, 29 Nov. 1968, FCO 168/2850.

142 Handwritten note from Edward Peck to Sir Denis Greenhill, on N. D. Clive to Mr. Peck, ‘Publicity for the Soviet Defector Mr. Aziz Ulugzade,’ 12 Feb. 1968, FCO 168/2850.

143 Notably, Keys, Reclaiming American Virtue, and, Bradley, World Reimagined.

144 See, for example, Synder, Human Rights.

145 The Times of India, 28 Dec. 1967, 6.

146 The Times of India, 28 Dec. 1967, 12.

147 The Times of India, 28 Dec. 1967, 1.

148 The Times of India, 29 Dec. 1967, 5.

149 ‘Foreign and Commonwealth Missions in India: Instructions against Grant of Asylum,’ 30 Dec. 1967, Pakistan-I, File No. PI/452/1/68, MEA, NAI.

150 Cole (New Delhi) to Hunt (Commonwealth Office), ‘Political Asylum in India,’ 5 Jan. 1968, FCO 37/62.

151 Hunt to Cole (New Delhi), 4 Mar. 1968, FCO 37/62.

152 Cole (New Delhi) to Hunt (Commonwealth Office), ‘Political Asylum in India’ 9 & 13 Mar. 1968, FCO 37/62.

153 Lok Sabha, Unstarred Question No. 360, ‘Instructions issued to foreign embassies regarding political asylum,’ 14 Feb. 1968.

154 Hindustan Times, 3 Jan. 1968.

155 The Times of India, 4 Jan. 1968, 8.

156 Haksar to Gandhi, 19 Nov. 1974, P. N. Haksar Papers, III Instalment, Subject File 269, NMML.

157 The Times of India, 10 Feb. 1970, 1.

158 The Times of India, 21 Jun. 1972, 1.

159 Hunting, ‘Amnesty International Report 1975/1976: Section on India,’ 29 Nov. 1976, FCO 37/1933.

160 Vance to Embassy Delhi, ‘Press Guidance,’ 4 Feb. 1977, Document no. 1977STATE025389, US National Archives, College Park, Maryland.