The "Schur" Agent Case as a Source for Studying the Methods of Agent Work of the Soviet State Security Bodies Against the Leaders of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement

Abstract

The purpose of the research. The article is devoted to the consideration of the methods of the struggle of the Soviet state security agencies against the leadership of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army on the example of the agent case "Shchur", which was set up to search the leader of the Ukrainian liberation movement in Volyn’ and Polissya Dmytro Klyachkivsky ("Klym Savur"). The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, systemicity, multifactority, concreteness, scientific and comprehensiveness. The following general-historical methods have been used: historical-comparative, retrospective, problem, microhistorical analysis. The scientific novelty: scientific novelty: by introducing a number of new archival materials from the affairs of the "Schur" into scientific circulation, it was possible to clearly follow the method of collecting the previous information on the wanted person, to establish the principles of forming a network of agents and provocateurs, to follow the establishment of a system of round-the-clock supervision of relatives wanted. Conclusions. The documents of the agent case "Shchur" indicate that the search for leaders of the Ukrainian underground began with the establishment of all available information about the person and the widest range of her friends and relatives. Often, it would have happened by accident, due to the fact that the whole society was filtered at various levels by the agent, which, giving information about secondary events, often led the employees of the special services to the wanted executives. Also, the analysis of documents of the affair of the "Schur" allows to question the thesis on the conduct established in the historiography so-called Orzhiv operation, planned for the purpose of liquidation D. Klyachkivsky. It turns out that the death of one of the leaders of the OUN and the UPA has become a coincidence in the course of the local operation of the Internal Troops of the NKVD and the NKGB staff against the insurgent unit. Only after finding out the identity of the killed commander of the UPA-North, in order to justify his inability to capture D. Klyachkivsky alive and emphasize the importance of the work of the special services, a legend about the large "Orzhiv operation" was formed in the depths of the apparatus of the Soviet state security organs, which was planned and implemented under the leadership the highest leaders of the NKVD and the NKDB of the Ukrainian SSR.