Chapter 3: Friends Abroad

Radio Astronomy

Eva Smith is a Case Officer working for MI6, now officially referred to as The Secret Intelligence Service, the part of the British government security apparatus which collects secret information from abroad to further the welfare and safety of the United Kingdom and its citizens. (1)

Eva works under the supervision of the Director of Operations and her present task is to provide further information to assist enquiries begun by the Metropolitan Police and her colleagues at MI5, officially ‘The Security Service’ and that part of the security apparatus concerned with internal security. It is also the part which works most closely on a day to day basis with the police. She is to verify the information found first by the police concerning Anna Semyonovna Tereshkova and then to look into the academic career of a Vyera Anatolyevna Kuznetsova, both targets in Moscow.

According to the Police, Anna Tereshkova is a young woman who came to the UK in 2009 for a weekend with friends and left aboard a private aircraft belonging to Anatoly Kustensky after she had suffered a riding accident, except the Police are not entirely happy with the events surrounding her departure and they wish to have more information about her, to see if what she says about herself is really true.

Vyera Kuznetsova is an academic and junior author of a research article in a Russian academic psychology journal, but is there anything more to be found out about her? Her home address, her friends and family? Other articles she has written? Her personal history?

Eva has access to the relevant SIS archives to give her any available background information on her targets and she can access records of any signals intelligence, the mobile phone and email traffic from her targets if any has been intercepted by GCHQ, (2) the third arm of the British Security Services which works on signals intelligence. The organisation evolved from The Government Code and Cipher School which during the Second World War, undertook an ambitious radio eves-dropping operation to monitor German military signals traffic. In due course, the Organisation built and operated the world’s first electronic computer to routinely break the German Enigma codes and read the enemy signals traffic.

There was a time — quite recently — when much of this had to be gathered by MI6 agents working abroad, in the field, often at considerable personal risk. Nowadays, since the birth and spread of the Internet, Eva never fails to be impressed by how much foreign intelligence can be had from a few hours spent carefully, in the safety of an office, in London.

The job is rather like radio astronomy: searching for meaning in a stream of data transmitted by distant galaxies in the sky and the task in front of her at the moment is a classic example.

Eva Smith is particularly well placed to conduct this investigation because she has an intimacy and familiarity with Russia and Ukraine, from childhood. Eva’s father, Maksym came to the United Kingdom after the World War as a Ukrainian Refugee: a refugee from war and a refugee from the Stalin Terror. He sought safety, security and as far as possible, prosperity. His efforts met with success and now his youngest daughter works to defend the country he made his own. She is in fact Evgenia Maksymovna Babayeva, as he likes to remind her but now she shelters behind her married name: Eva Smith

Eva Smith starts with Anna. Anna has an active Facebook page which links to friends, stories of her adventures, lists of her likes and dislikes, tastes in music and hobbies. There are photographs which clearly show who she is and, along with the rest of the pages, suggest a very personable, attractive, self-confident and lively young woman. The Page talks about her hobbies, where in Moscow she goes horse riding and about the gymnasium she visits.

There is mention of the Hospital Institution where she works — Eva finds the hospital website easily on Google and verifies a picture of Anna apparently going to work at the institution, after saying farewell to friends, corresponds to a picture of the institution posted on Google Street View.

There are stories about her adventures on holiday. One of these is of great interest to Eva and her colleagues at the Metropolitan Police: the account of an ill-fated long weekend in London when Anna suffered an accident and had to be flown home.

As she explores the Facebook page, Eva is struck by how easy it is to learn about Anna, how the pages are clearly laid out and written in easy Russian for any casual visitor to see. It is surprising just how much people are prepared to reveal about themselves nowadays on social media — but there is another possibility. The page clearly verifies Anna as a real person and establishes particular facts in her recent history. Is this innocent, or perhaps created by very careful and artful design?

Eva now turns to Vyera Anatolyevna Kuznetsova and begins with her academic career. She decides to probe more carefully, anxious not to draw attention to her investigation. She finds a more local site, looks for the most appropriate telephone number and dials...

“Royal Society of Medicine?” says a voice. (3)

“Library, please.”

“RSM Library... , “ says another voice.

“I would like to undertake a literature search on publications by a Russian author called Vyera Anatolyevna Kuznetsova. The only reference I have for her is in a Russian psychological publication called Psychological Letters earlier this year. The authors were II Mendeleyev, JV Romanova and VA Kuznetsova. The authors work at Moscow State University, according to the article. Would you be able to help?”

“I can certainly give it a try. Are you a member, may I ask?”

“Yes, of course...”

Eva supplies the details of a colleague who is an MI6 officer and a doctor and a member of the Society. She gives the librarian an “innocent” email address for the reply.

“Is there anything else?”

“Well yes, actually. VA Kuznetsova has a PhD according to the article I mentioned and I just wondered if there is further information about the degree anywhere?”

“If the academic work done for the degree has been published, the result will come up in the Publications in Medicine database or in a thing called Medline, which is the National Library of Medicine database. This is the American National Library of Medicine we are talking about, but they try to list every single medical publication in the world which comes to their attention. Beyond that, you could always try looking up the Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University on Google or see if you can reach the catalogue of the university library on line. I guess you might need a native Russian speaker to help you there and unfortunately we do not have a member of staff who speaks Russian — at least, not at the moment.”

Russian interpretation is not a difficult hurdle for Eva Smith, who of course grew up as Evgenia Maksymovna Babayeva but she keeps carefully in-role as an interested doctor and merely says, “Well, thank you so much for what you have been able to do already — oh, but actually there is one other idea. If I can find a Russian-speaking colleague, I suppose I could read VA Kuznetsova’s actual thesis. Can you get a thesis from a foreign university on an inter-library loan?”

“Well ... er ... theoretically yes, but in practice it is not exactly straight-forward. The library copy may be the only copy an institution has for general perusal, so they are usually reluctant to lend to other institutions. The fear is that they might not get it back. However, nowadays a thesis is written as an electronic document. It is difficult to imagine why anyone would want to write in hard copy. So the author of the thesis may have a copy they could send by email — or you could always ask permission to read it in the library in Moscow and visit in person, I suppose?”

“Ah ... Moscow is not terribly convenient if you live in London. I see that the article gives an address for correspondence so perhaps I can email the senior author and ask if they could forward my email to Dr Kuznetsova? Anyway, thank you once again for all your advice. This has been really useful.”

“Please, do not mention it. It is our job. I should be back to you soon with the results of the Medline and PubMed searches. Let me just confirm your email address...”

Eva pauses for thought. A direct approach to the senior author would show that someone was interested in the work published. To II Mendeleyev, the senior author, an unexpected interest in the third author on the paper would be odd — and provide a warning, which the Archivist is very keen to avoid.

She finds the main site for Moscow State University and begins to explore. (4) The “virtual tour” is outstanding, showing flamboyant if rather over-powering “Stalin-esque” wedding-cake buildings in lots of panoramic shots all taken on sunny days to show the University at its most attractive.

The site map directs her to the Faculty of Psychology page and this is rather sober compared to the glories of the Virtual Tour. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive list of staff, although the Dean is mentioned in person and his email address is quoted.

She clicks the link to the University Library. This page has to be read in Russian, and although she is a Russian speaker, she calls another colleague, to have a second pair of eyes on the problem. The two of them carefully search the library pages, but fail to locate a list of theses. They also fail to find VA Kuznetsova in the library’s catalogue index, searched in case Kuznetsova’s thesis had been catalogued in its own right.

Was this surprising? If VA Kuznetsova is a recent graduate and the academic paper she had helped to write was taken from the data collected as part of her PhD research (the title of the article in question referred to “A Strategy For Investigation,” after all) the Library might merely be in the process of entering the details in their catalogue but it was disappointing to find no reference to her at all.

When the return email from the Librarian at the Royal Society of Medicine arrives, there is only one result: the article Eva already has in her hands. This adds to her impression that VA Kuznetsova is a young researcher (already implied because she is the third and most junior author). Perhaps this article represents her first serious academic publication?

What about the telephone book and Facebook? Has Vyera Kuznetsova the same energetic social life as Anna Tereshkova? It might be expected in one who is researching BDSM Play Behaviour? Eva smiles at what some of the research might have entailed. Entertaining, even if merely making observations?

She begins by entering “Moscow telephone directory online” into Google and finds a site called SpravkaRU.ru She puts Kuznetsova V A and Moscow into the search bar. There are 225 residential numbers listed. The link to yandex.ru, the popular Russian search engine, offers 670 references to people called VA Kuznetsova in the first 67 pages of results with every sign of many more pages still available.

Young people enjoy Facebook. Does she have a Facebook page?

She launches Facebook under an alias and enters VA Kuznetsova. None of the entries has any information which would correspond to a young research psychologist at Moscow State University. Researching Adult Play Behaviour and BDSM Games had to be one of the more racy topics for investigation. Was it the sort of topic that a ‘shrinking violet’ whose social horizon did not even extend to a Facebook page would be able to handle? It seemed unlikely.

Despite her very best efforts, Eva cannot find any further trace of the enigmatic Vyera Anatolyevna Kuznetsova...

Some Local Field Work

Stuart Rawlins opens a secure email from MI6 in London and scans the contents. He is one of the MI6 officers attached to the British Embassy in Moscow. He is asked to verify that Anna Semyonovna Tereshkova lives at the address associated with her on her Facebook page, to verify that she goes to work at a private hospital in the city, and to verify that she pursues her equestrian interests at the Izmaylovo Club, near the Izmaylovsky Park (5)

Everything so far is easy and can be accomplished with some careful long-range photography, but the final paragraph of instructions is much more challenging to his ingenuity. Could Anna be engaged in conversation and some discreet questions asked about a short weekend she had enjoyed in London in 2009?

“Ah...”

Stuart checks the accompanying information about Anna once again.

The information to be had from her Facebook page is innocuous to say the least but not completely. Take the hospital where the girl works. This is not just any private clinic. This is the clinic which looks after the rich and powerful, so Anna is almost definitely a ‘somebody’ in her chosen profession and perhaps in other places, too. If the benign contents of her Facebook page are a clever cover for some underhand work Anna is involved in, it is likely — certain — that she would be more than capable of telling the same story if asked some casual questions, questions which would alert her to the idea that she had come under scrutiny in Britain. He reads through the background briefing once again.

“Enquiries at the request of the Met” ... well, that explains some of the naïveté of the request to ‘question’ Ms Tereshkova. Some over-anxious London police officer wanting to tie up loose ends, no doubt. Stuart sighs once more. What should he do? The surveillance tasks could be accomplished discreetly and effectively. The interrogation was another matter entirely. He could flatly refuse this part of the request. Yet, was there a way? Someone would need to happen across Anna in casual non-threatening circumstances when her guard is down — if ever it is. Who might be suitable?

He goes through the list of his colleagues. The issue he faces day-to-day is always how to keep them away from the attention of the FSB. But, what if he sent someone who would be returning to the UK soon, in any case? What about ... what about Martha?

Moscow Joggers

Anna Tereshkova is a creature of habit. It is amongst the information about Anna that Stuart Rawlins’s colleagues have discreetly and successfully collected and now the MI6 surveillance is in its final phase. It is 19:30 on Friday evening and if Anna keeps to her routine she will go jogging, snaking through the streets near her flat in Lyalin Pere’ulok towards the Bulvar, the circular road which carries traffic around central Moscow and provides, between the clockwise and counter-clockwise carriageways, gardens for Muscovites to explore and enjoy in the summer and autumn evenings.

Beginning at the southern end, Anna will follow the gardens northwards before turning east and reaching her flat from the opposite end of the street — except today things will be different, because today she will have unexpected company.

Martha Holmes emerges from Kity Gorad Metro at the entrance on Varvar’ski’ye Vorota Square and treads a course southeast, along Ulitsa Solyanka, Pod’kolo’kolni’yy Pere’ulok to meet Anna head-on as Anna emerges from Ulitsa Vorontsovo Polye before the two of them turn northwards along Pokrovsky Bulvar. By the time Martha draws alongside Anna, Martha calculates she will be warmed up and actually look like a runner. In this way, she hopes to disarm Anna and make it easier to initiate conversation.

Anna is running to time — quite literally. As she rounds the corner and runs past the Higher School of Economics Building, Martha can cross the main road at the pedestrian crossing, taking care as she crosses the tram line and turns sharp left, to discreetly fall in behind Anna.

Martha has seen photographs of Anna but this is the first time she has seen her in the flesh, so to speak. She is about 5 foot 10 inches, slim but quite muscular. Her skin has a healthy tan and she sports a short spiky crop of hair which is the white blond colour Russian women seem particularly fond of. She wears white asics running shoes, white ankle socks, blue lycra shorts and a red T bar running vest which shows off her shoulders. She reminds Martha of an upside-down version of the Russian flag with her head as a white topped flagstaff. Anna has also found her pace which is graceful, flowing and just a shade faster than Martha would like.

Just beyond Dura’sovski’y, a street joining from the right, there is an entrance into the gardens and both runners turn left using the pedestrian crossing and turn sharp right to continue their run in the relative quiet of the gardens as the traffic rumbles on either side of them beyond the trees. By now Martha has edged alongside. She makes a conscious effort to steady her breathing...

“Hi,...”

“Huh?”

“I’m Martha. You?”

“Me? Anna. Good to meet you.”

“Aha.”

“You live near here?”

“Yes. You?”

“No. I live elsewhere. Exploring. The Bulvar is lovely.”

“Yes, very lovely. In winter, often icy.”

“In winter? In winter, I run at the gym.”

“Me too, but sometimes if weather dry...”

“Aha. Sokolniki Park is a very good place to run.”

“Yes, I like Sokolniki. You, you are not Russian?”

“No, I am British. Big accent, huh?”

“Ha! No, you speak very well. How many years in Moscow?”

“Five, but I go home soon.”

“Oh. Sad. I always live in Moscow. Turn right now.”

“What? Oh ... Moscow: many changes?”

“Yes, many.”

“I am an administrator. You?”

“I am a nurse. I work at Polyklinik.”

“Aha.”

By now, Anna has had the opportunity to look at Martha. She sees a very personable Afro-Caribbean girl with a pale brown skin and hair neatly tied back. Martha has a tiny gold stud in the side of her nose and cheeky sparkling eyes. Anna likes what she sees very much...

“You live in London?”

“Yes, but family live in Barnstaple.”

“Bar-n-stap-yel? That is a funny word! Where is Bar-n-sta-pel?”