'The Illegals': Soviet infiltration, observation, and subversion into the West - review

Shortly after the 1917 October Revolution, Meir Abramovich Trilisser, the forerunner of the KGB, introduced the “illegals” as a weapon into an anti-Communist West

ELENA VAVILOVA, photographed in the 1980s, was a colonel in the KGB First Chief Directorate Foreign Intelligence Service until 2010.

ELENA VAVILOVA, photographed in the 1980s, was a colonel in the KGB First Chief Directorate Foreign Intelligence Service until 2010.

(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

ByCOLIN SHINDLER

JULY 19, 2025 01:59