A Very Dangerous Woman: The Lives, Loves and Lies of Russia's Most Seductive Spy (66 page)

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Authors: Deborah McDonald,Jeremy Dronfield

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Historical

BOOK: A Very Dangerous Woman: The Lives, Loves and Lies of Russia's Most Seductive Spy
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11
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, LL. Undated: probably 8 Jul. 1918; see also Ullman,
Intervention
, p. 230; Kettle,
The Road to Intervention
, p. 256.
12
   
The official name ‘Russian Soviet Republic’ was adopted at the Third Congress of Soviets on 8 January 1918. Almost nobody outside the governing parties used the name.
13
   
Hill,
Go Spy the Land
, pp. 206–9; Lockhart,
British Agent
, pp. 295–300. Hill’s and Lockhart’s accounts of the Congress differ slightly in some details (such as the order of the speakers and assignment of boxes) but agree on the atmosphere and main events.
14
   
Quoted in Lockhart,
British Agent
, pp. 297–8.
15
   
Hill,
Go Spy the Land
, p. 209.
16
   
Quoted in Lockhart,
British Agent
, p. 299.
17
   
Leggett,
The Cheka
, pp. 71–4.
18
   
Accounts of the incident differ in details. Lockhart (
British Agent
, p. 301) was told that Mirbach had been killed by Blyumkin’s revolver fire, whereas Figes (
People’s Tragedy
, p. 633) states that the bullets missed, and it was the bomb that killed the Count. Leggett (
The Cheka
, p. 74) adds the detail of the broken leg. Lockhart says that Blyumkin’s pretext to gain entry was to discuss an alleged assassination plot uncovered by the Cheka, whereas Leggett (who provides the details about the warrant) states that the ostensible business was to discuss the arrest of Mirbach’s nephew.
19
   
Swain (
Origins of the Russian Civil War
, pp. 172–5) suggests that Lockhart was complicit in Savinkov’s coup. Lockhart himself always denied it. He had been ordered by Balfour to have nothing to do with Savinkov, but on 6 July he telegraphed the Foreign Secretary to urge Allied military intervention as quickly as possible to make good the strategic position Savinkov was trying to secure; in the weeks that followed, he channelled funds to Savinkov without authorisation (Ullman,
Intervention
, p. 231).
20
   
Quoted in Leggett,
The Cheka
, p. 82.
21
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, LL. Undated: probably 8 Jul. 1918.
22
   
Rabinowitch,
Bolsheviks in Power
, pp. 184, 299.
23
   
A later investigation by the Cheka showed that the Left SRs in Petrograd, most of whom were not dedicated militants who were not aware of the Moscow uprising, had not intended to rise against the Bolsheviks. The Red Army’s assault on the Pazhesky Korpus was a deliberate provocation designed to destroy the Left SR power base in Petrograd (Rabinowitch,
Bolsheviks in Power
, pp. 300–301).
24
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, LL. Undated: probably 8 Jul. 1918.
25
   
Cromie, letter to Adm. W. R. Hall, 26 Jul. 1918, in Jones, ‘Documents on British Relations’ IV, pp. 559–60.
26
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, LL. Undated: probably 8 Jul. 1918.
27
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, HIA. Undated: probably 8–10 Jul. 1918.
28
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, HIA. Undated: probably 8–10 Jul. 1918.
29
   
Lockhart later claimed that he had laughingly refused the guard offered by the Bolsheviks (
British Agent
, p. 303), but Moura seems to have been under the impression that he had accepted it.
30
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, LL. Undated: probably 6–7 Jul. 1918.
31
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, HIA. Undated: probably 10-15 Jul. 1918.
 
 

Chapter 9: Across the Border

  
1
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, HIA. Written at Narva, undated: probably 15 Jul. 1918. Moura makes no mention of permits for entry to Estonia, but as the wife of an Estonian native, she would have been entitled to a ‘protection certificate’ which would allow her to cross the border. The date of the journey is inferred from Lockhart’s statement (
British Agent
, p. 307) that by 25 July it was ten days since Moura had ‘left Moscow’ for Yendel; comparison with other evidence (e.g. his diary and historical events mentioned in her letters) indicates that he meant Petrograd rather than Moscow.
  
2
   
Swain,
Origins of the Russian Civil War
, pp. 172–5. In his memoir, Lockhart flatly denies that he supported Savinkov or the Yaroslavl uprising (
British Agent
, p. 303). In fact, he knew of it, and attempted to help Savinkov with money after the uprising had started (Ullman,
Intervention
, p. 231).
  
3
   
Lockhart,
British Agent
, p. 304.
  
4
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, HIA. Written at Yendel, dated ‘Saturday’: probably 20 Jul. 1918.
  
5
   
Raun,
Estonia and the Estonians
, pp. 105–7.
  
6
   
Moura, letter to Meriel Buchanan, 13 Oct. 1918, LL.
  
7
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, HIA. Written at Yendel, dated ‘Saturday’: probably 20 Jul. 1918.
  
8
   
Swain,
Origins of the Russian Civil War
, pp. 172–6.
  
9
   
Kettle,
The Road to Intervention
, p. 298; Ullman,
Intervention
, p. 234.
10
   
Lockhart, entry for 25 Jul. 1918,
Diaries vol. 1
, p. 39.
11
   
Lockhart,
British Agent
, pp. 306–7.
12
   
Hill,
Go Spy the Land
, p. 212.
13
   
In
British Agent
(p. 307) Lockhart writes that it was ten days since she had left Moscow; the evidence of letters and diary suggests that this was an error, and he meant Petrograd. It is possible that his error was due to the fact that in this part of his memoir, he was glossing over and covering up aspects of Moura’s movements and activities.
14
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, LL. Undated: probably 6–7 Jul. 1918.
15
   
Lockhart,
British Agent
, p. 307.
16
   
Liuba Malinina was the niece of the former Moscow mayor, Mikhail Chelnokov, who had been a good friend of Lockhart during his earlier days at the Moscow Consulate.
17
   
Lockhart,
British Agent
, p. 307.
18
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, 28 Oct. 1918, LL.
19
   
Lockhart, unpublished diary entry for 29 Jul. 1918.
20
   
Moura, letter to Lockhart, HIA. Written at Narva, undated: probably 15 Jul. 1918.
21
   
According to her daughter Tania (Alexander,
Estonian Childhood
, p. 152), who was deeply sceptical about the claim.
22
   
In
British Agent
, which Moura had oversight of, and which she insisted he alter to remove ‘the spying business’ (Moura, letter to Lockhart, 18 Jun. 1932, LL).
23
   
Official press release cited in
The Times
, 1 Aug. 1918, p. 6.

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