How Hetman Skoropadskyi Had Been Fooling the Chekists for 8 Years

In the 1920s and 1930s, the gru/nkvd of the ussr repeatedly resorted to the method of creating ficticious underground organizations inside the country. The aim was to penetrate into foreign emigration centers through them, to spy on plans, divert efforts to false targets, spread disinformation, exert influence on leaders, try to make them quarrel among themselves and, ultimately, eliminate organizational structures and supporters both inside the country and abroad. But one of those operations regarding Ukrainian emigration, still unknown to the general public, did not go according to plans that were approved and adjusted in moscow. Declassified documents from the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine tell about it.

“The soil is not overgrown with weeds for farmers’ matters”

“ S. Shemet, 44, Blettstrasse, Charlottenburg, Berlin”.

Dear Serhiy Mykhailovych. I haven't written to you for more than a year or a year and a half... Due to the general situation at the moment, I wanted to get in touch with you again... Sometimes I visit Vol. Mykh. And I learned your address from him... What are you doing there? Where and what are Grandfather, Vyaches., Adam and others doing?... In general, I am very glad that I have returned home... I am absolutely happy with national matters and, I would say, with farmers’ ones as well, the soil for which is not overgrown with weeds... I would be happy to hear from you as soon as possible. Greet everyone from me. Yours, Myk.(ola) Lv.(ovych), Kyiv, 17.12–26” (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. – F.1. – Case 15. – Vol. 1 – P. 2).

Actually, this letter gave a start to the gpu of the Ukrainian ssr’s operation, which stretched in time for almost ten years and was given the codename “T-3”, just like the case. The author of the letter was Mykola Lvovych Hohol-Yanovskyi, a native of Poltava province, one of the organizers of the Free Cossacks during the Hetmanate in 1918, Otaman of the Novozaporizkyi Kish in Kherson region, who was directly subordinate to Pavlo Skoropadskyi, a Khorunzhyi (Leiutenant- Transl.) General of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. According to some sources, he was a distant relative of Mykola Hohol, but the case file does not mention this. After the defeat of the liberation struggle, he ended up in internment camps in Poland. In 1922, under amnesty, he received permission to return to his homeland. He lived in Lubny, and later in Kharkiv and Kyiv, where the gpu of the soviet Ukraine immediately registered him as a former officer of the russian imperial army and the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

His past contacts and correspondence with Serhiy Shemet, a leading figure of the Hetmanate movement abroad, a person close to the Hetman and Pavlo Skoropadskyi’s long-time personal secretar, greatly interested the Chekists. Therefore, they decided to establish operational contact with M. Hohol-Yanovsky. During the conversation, they made it clear that they knew everything about him and kept his correspondence under control. So they put him in front of the fact that he would write further letters with the direct participation of the employees of the gpu. Like, he would not need to do anything special, just insert the necessary phrases into the text of an ordinary everyday letter. Fearing for the fate of his family, he agreed. The gpu gave him a code name “Ukrainets” (“Ukrainian”- Transl.).

He took S. Shemet's address from Shemet’s brother Volodymyr, a former member of the Ukrainian Central Rada who lived in Kyiv. In the text of the letter, he appears as “Vol. Mykh”. “Grandfather” stood for Colonel General of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic Mykhailo Omelyanovych-Pavlenko, Commander of the First Winter Campaign of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, who at that time joined P. Skoropadskyi. “Vyaches.”– Vyacheslav Lypynskyi – one of the main ideologues of the Ukrainian monarchist movement. “Adam” meant Count Adam Montrezor, one of the founders of the Ukrainian Union of Farmers-Statesmen, husband of P. Skoropadskyi's eldest daughter Maria. M. Hohol-Yanovskyi knew all of them from past joint activities. And this was decisive in the gpu’s decision to make him the main actor at the first stage of the planned operation.

One of the key phrases in the letter was the one about “farmers’ matters”. What was meant was not the general situation in agriculture, but the movement of farmers, which at some point stood behind P. Skoropadskyi during the Hetmanate, as well as the Ukrainian Union of Farmers-State- Builders, created in exile by V. Lypynskyi and S. Shemet. That is, the chekists wanted to draw the attention of the leaders of the Hetmanate movement abroad to the fact that their cause was alive and developing in Ukraine. At the same time, it had a much deeper meaning.

“Create a fictitious organization of farmers-state- builders”

A reply from abroad arrived in February 1927. According to archival documents, active correspondence continued throughout the year. S. Shemet sincerely rejoiced at the news from his native land, expressed satisfaction that their cause continues to live. He pointed out that “farming must be industrialized and internally organized on the principles of self-organization”.

“One of the papers reads as follows: “We consider this Shemet’s latest statement as “Ukrainets”’ rather direct hint on the need to carry out certain work among villagers. In general, it follows from the content of the letter that Shemet, not limiting himself to receiving information letters from “Ukrainets”, is trying quite persistently to find out through “Ukrainets” the ground for conducting work in Ukraine. We believe that this attempt by Shemet should be used for the purpose of creating a legend along the hetmanite line” (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. - F.1. - Case 15. - Vol. 1 - P. 53).

The above-mentioned legend was about creation of a fictitious underground organization of farmers state-builders with a branched structure on the territory of Ukraine, conveying this information abroad and, on behalf of this organization, infiltration of a gpu agent into the Berlin Center of Hetmanites with further far-reaching plans. So the chekists gave an instruction to write in one of the next letters to S. Shemet that there is a group of farmers in Ukraine that has contacts with farmers, does not carry out active work, but is opposed to the soviet government. It was recommended not to mention names, to ask for an address for further conspiratorial correspondence, and even better – to arrange a personal meeting abroad to tell everything in detail “without extra ears”.

But there was one problem. After a thorough study of M. Hohol-Yanovskyi, they realized that he was not quite the person they need. In the characteristics of him, the chekists emphasized that he “has not broken up with his past completely and is quite careful to meet our plans”. And he did not see anything wrong in the farmers' movement. Therefore, they came to the conclusion: he is not suitable for the role of the initiator of the creation of the legend, since, according to his past, he is a rather prominent figure and, moreover, a “returnee”, and this may arouse suspicion among the Hetmanites.

The chekists feared that if M. Hohol-Yanovskyi were sent abroad, he might fall under the influence of authoritative figures of the Hetmanate movement, to whom he retained warm feelings, and he would confess to everything. Plus it was problematic to organize his trips abroad officially. He had a small production of glue, but this did not give grounds for foreign business trips. In addition, he had health problems. Therefore, they decided to leave him in the case as a well-known authoritative person with great ties, a kind of “Hetmanites’ leader”, while for direct personal negotiations to choose a new person who would be completely under the control of the gpu and perform all tasks without any doubts.

The right person was soon found – Oleksiy Fedorovych Levytskyi, Professor of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. In the characteristics of him, it was noted that he was highly intelligent, comprehensively developed, with great erudition, easily navigated in any situation, sociable, well-versed in the political situation. Among the shortcomings, it was noted that he had certain adventurous tendencies. But they decided that it might be better for the role that was to be given to him. They carried out appropriate work with him, explained what he should do, in particular, outlined the prospects for him to travel abroad on a scientific basis, help in promotion and in general all kinds of assistance. And in return – accurate performance of assigned tasks.

O. Levytskyi was not a supporter of the Hetmanate movement or any national liberation movements in general. But this did not bother the gpu officers at all. He was provided with all the necessary information, thanks to which he was to become an insider among the Hetmanites. And in view of his quick mastery of the necessary knowledge, assertiveness and engineering education, he was given the operative nickname “Turbogenerator”. Soon, they arranged his meeting “in the light”, as the documents have it, with “Ukrainets”, explained that in the future they will work together for the gpu, and assigned each his role. In addition, five more people were introduced to the legendary group. Among them were Professors of Kyiv institutes, school teachers, agronomists, “kurkuls”. They were selected in such a way that none of them was sympathetic to the Petlyurists. Just in case of future verifying by the foreign center of the Hetmanites.

At the reception at Pavlo Skoropadskyi’s

“To a secret employee

“Turbogenerator”

The Task

The aim of your trip to Berlin: to get in touch with Serhiy Shemet, and through him with other hetmanites (Kochubey, Skoropadskyi) and agree with them on the beginning of the hetmanite work in Ukraine, on the forms of this work, tasks for the near future, on tools for work and about constant communication with abroad...

Having got in touch with Shemet, name yourself, hand him the letter, mention that H-Ya-skyi and you are old acquaintances, that you know all his correspondence with Shemet... in which he asked, among other things, about the revival of the farmers’ political movement in Ukraine to carry out the struggle against bolsheviks, that he agreed to help this movement in every possible way and that you came to him to discuss these issues...

During your stay in Berlin and meetings with hetmanites, try to gather as much information as possible about existence of hetmanate organizations in Germany and other countries, their composition, activities, financial condition, moods in hetmanites’ circles, etc.

Otherwise, follow our verbal instructions”. (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. – F.1. – Case 15. – Vol. 1 – P. 74–75).

According to O. Levytskyi's report on his trip abroad, he left for Berlin at the end of August 1928. Soon he arrived in Wannsee, a suburb of the German capital. S. Shemet himself opened the door of the villa. Upon learning that the stranger had come from Ukraine and had a letter from his good friend M. Hohol-Yanovskyi, he immediately changed his official tone and joyfully invited the guest inside.

According to the task received, O. Levytskyi talked about the underground organization, its being just at the stage of formation and needing guidance from experienced people from abroad, relevant literature, funds and other instructions. After that, he asked with whom he should resolve these issues. S. Shemet asked him to wait, left the room and appeared five minutes later with Mykola Kochubey. The latter introduced himself as the head of the Hetman’s Uprava (administration- Transl.) and said that those issues were within his competence. During further communication, M. Kochubey said that they themselves were going to start such work in Ukraine. At the same time, he cited the decision of the summer meeting of the Hetman's Uprava, which discussed “the pressing need for active work in Greater Ukraine and development of communication methods and channels”. A. Levytskyi, as he claimed in his report, immediately pointed out the remarkable coincidence of their opinions. He said, “how well both you here and we there, on the ground, came to the conclusion that right now is the moment”.

After some time, S. Shemet pointed out that everything they had heard was very interesting and important, and offered to get acquainted with “his eminence”, since it would not be necessary to repeat everything again. A. Levytskyi gladly agreed and noted that he would have 'the good fortune to be represented by His Grace”. He was taken to a large office, where he met Pavlo Skoropadskyi. Hetman was already informed about the guest in general terms. So he offered to have lunch together, after which they continued the conversation.

P. Skoropadskyi listened attentively to everything and asked many questions. He was interested in both the general state of affairs in Ukraine and in individual moments. In particular, he asked about the army, the church, how strong families were, the position of women, and the reasons for divorces. As O. Levytskyi admitted after his return, he was quite satisfied with the reception given to him and the impression he made on everyone present. “Hetman treated me to a goodbye dinner”, he wrote in the report, “and asked me to visit them without a special reason. I declared that I felt here entirely among my own people, that I was happy with the favorable treatment I received, that I would certainly avail myself of his invitation, and I did not conceal from him how delighted my people, who had sent me, would be at such an incredible reception. And I told him that my story about him, his family and his attitude to me will tenfold our strength in work there, in Ukraine” (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. - F.1. – Case 15. - Vol. 1 – P. 101).

Specific organizational aspects were discussed separately with S. Shemet and M. Kochubey during other meetings. They agreed that the underground organization of farmers-state-builders in Ukraine should not be massive. It should consist of two centers - a management center and a working operational one, and communities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Lubny, and some other cities. That is, as expressed by P. Skoropadskyi, the all-Ukrainian scale of the organization is necessary to give it greater weight. After that, they moved on to discussing other issues – structure, conspiracy in work, ways of maintaining communication.

“To encrypt letters, take the newspaper “Pravda”

Negotiations on the technical side of the case were mostly conducted by O. Levytskyi with the leading figures of the Hetmanate movement S. Shemet, M. Kochubey and Oleksandr Skoropys-Yoltukhovskyi. They agreed that the “community of farmers-state- builders” would be headed by a two-person management center. Another link is the operational center, to which the so-called “triyky” (“threes”- Transl.) would be subordinate. Tasks for the nearest period: strengthening the organization at the expense of dedicated people, popularizing the Hetmanate movement, collecting information about the political and economic situation in Ukraine and transferring this information abroad, spreading literature.

It was agreed that the best option would be a “communication by live agents” with Berlin. For this purpose, P. Skoropadskyi instructed A. Montresor, who lived in Warsaw, to find a courier in Volyn who could cross the Polish-Ukrainian border without any problems. O. Levytskyi was offered to find a reliable person in Shepetivka area to arrange a secret apartment to accept couriers with the appropriate password. Before all this was arranged, a certain limited amount of literature had to be sent to Kyiv by mail in the catalogs of the Siemens company. Since Danylo, P. Skoropadskyi’s son, worked as an engineer at that plant and had previously established business correspondence with a number of persons in Ukraine, such a method should not cause any suspicions.

For important messages, it was suggested to use a digital cipher. They decided to take the first ten issues of the “Pravda” newspaper from October 1928 as a basis. The letter had to begin with arbitrary two- and three-digit numbers. Among them, the fifth number was supposed to be the sum of the serial number of the “Pravda” newspaper and the number 75. The encryption method and other peculiarities were discussed. They warned that the newspaper should be destroyed after encryption.

For training, O. Levytskyi was given a short text and the work of the Professor of the Politechnical Institute was attentively watched. He managed without problems, because he had a good memory and was “good friends” with mathematics. Therefore, it was not difficult for him to understand encryption. He reproduced all these algorithms from memory in the report already after returning to Kyiv.

As an expression of special trust, O. Levytskyi was included in the Jury Council. It was an ideological body that managed the activities of the Ukrainian Union of Farmers-State- Builders. This body, according to the concept of its leader V. Lypynskyi, was supposed to consist exclusively of people unwaveringly devoted to the idea. But before that, he had to go through a special initiation procedure. O. Levytskyi was told that all active Hetminites would sign a special declaration-oath stating that they recognize one and only Hetman P. Skoropadskyi and his dynasty and undertake to faithfully “serve the idea of ​​the Ukrainian labor monarchy” for the rest of their lives. According to O. Levytsky's testimony, everything happened in the presence of Head of the Hetman's administration, M. Kochubey, and another mandatory witness.

The moment O. Levytsky signed the oath, M. Kochubey put it in a desk drawer and locked it with a key. And after some pause, he took it out and demonstratively tore it. At this, he stated that they keep the obligations of only those Hetmanites who live abroad, but the ones of those from Ukraine are destroyed. Like, this is done for a conspiracy, so as not to expose loyal people to danger from bolshevik special services.

In parting, Levytskyi was informed that in approximately half a year there was to be another meeting of the Council of Jury, to which he must come and make a report on the completion of the registration of the underground Hetmanate organization and the political situation in Ukraine. In conversations among themselves, everyone already called him the leader of the Hetmanate movement in Ukraine.

A Warning Sign

In 1929, O. Levytskyi made a second trip abroad. He was just as warmly received, asked in detail about everything and at the same time was looked at very attentively. And he felt self-confident and carefree, fully entering the role assigned to him. With the agreement of the chekists, during his stay abroad, he made certain notes on separate sheets after meetings with the leaders of the Hetman's administration. Just in order not to forget something important for a future report. Once he discovered that the envelope with the notes was missing. And in a few days, P. Skoropadskyi demonstratively returned those notes to him. To a silent question, which was read in the way the Hetman was looking at him, O. Levytskyi could not hide the truth from him and told that he was forced to act on the instructions of the gpu. S. Shemet, who was present, allegedly remarked that they already knew about that. M. Hohol-Yanovskyi allegedly recently warned them in one of his letters.

This long-time devoted friend and associate of P. Skoropadskyi, who sincerely sympathized with the Hetmanites, could not keep his secret for long. He found an opportunity to send a warning sign abroad. Therefore, the story continued according to a different scenario. For their part, the Hetmanites did not want the chekists to guess about the failure. Therefore, in the future, they tried in every possible way to play along and use the situation to their advantage.

Meanwhile, the gpu was developing and adopting new plans. Before the next trip abroad, a structural diagram of the Hetmanites’ underground was prepared. It additionally included the Kherson community, branches in Leningrad and Magnitogorsk, secret apartments for receiving couriers and literature in Chernivtsi and Kamianets-Podilskyi. On paper, that is. At the head of the regional communities and so-called “triykas” were appointed secret employees. They did not know anything about the general plan and believed that there really was an underground organization of Hetmanites- state-builders in Ukraine, which had to be cultivated, its participants exposed, and the gpu authorities informed about the counter-revolutionaries.

Similarly, a new agent was infiltrated “in dark” into the organization's operational center, without letting him know that the organization was fictitious. He held the position of commercial director of the Kyiv Musical Instrument Factory and could travel for work within the ussr and even abroad. They took advantage of this and found an opportunity to send him, as well as “Turbogenerator”, to Berlin. There, during the week, he got to know all the influential Hetmanites and P. Skoropadskyi himself, and after his return he confirmed that everyone was satisfied with their activities.

The meeting of the Jury Council, where various issues were discussed in a close circle of people close to P. Skoropadskyi, was attended by O.Levytskyi on his own. Over a few years, he had to change a few jobs in order to have grounds for foreign business trips. After the Kyiv Polytechnical Institute, he worked as the dean of the Electromechanical Faculty of the Kyiv Institute of Electrification and Mechanization of Agriculture. Then he was fictitiously appointed a researcher at the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The topic of his scientific work was the mass use of projectors for growing crops at night. With these developments, he traveled abroad allegedly to share his experience.

For trips, he was provided with long reports on the state of affairs in Ukraine in the main spheres of social and political life. Such materials, which were prepared repeatedly, were called “politdez” in the operational references. That is, it was disinformation, seasoned with real facts, which gave a somewhat distorted picture of the situation in the country. Separate divisions of the gpu worked on the compilation of such materials, and the texts were sent to moscow for approval.

In the bowels of the gpu, leaflets from the mythical organization of the Hetmanites were also carefully prepared, checking and coordinating every phrase with the leadership. During the entire period, a few pieces of this kind were made, at first – of a general direction, but soon – more radical in content. But, of course, they were not really spread. gpu just demonstratively confiscated them and made certain publicity so that in case of checking, the “abroad” could receive appropriate confirmation. Some leaflets would be dropped into the mailbox of the German Consulate in Kyiv, as the gpu knew about P. Skoropadskyi’s certain connections with German political figures and that the leaflets would be delivered as intended. This, according to the chekists, had to strengthen the authority of the organization.

In addition to all this, the chekists intended, through representatives of the non-existing organization, to push the Berlin center of the Hetmanites into an even greater confrontation with the UPR. In particular, information was brought to the attention of the Hetman’s administration that the role of the Petlyurists in Ukraine was growing and something had to be done about it. They said that it was necessary to fight for influence on the masses, and for this in every possible way discredit the followers of Symon Petliura and their ideas. They raised the issue that on the territory of Ukraine it was not necessary to limit the work to an ideological struggle, but to “fight the existing illegal Petliurists’ organizations, disbanding them and attracting individual members to own ranks”.

This is stated in one of the documents from moscow to Kyiv, dated 1930, under which there is the signature of Artur Artuzov, deputy head of the ogpu of the ussr. It was under his leadership that previous large-scale operations “Trest” and “Syndykat-2” (“Trust” and “Syndicate-2”, respectively- Transl.) were carried out against foreign emigrant centers. Therefore, A. Artuzov acted as a curator in the operation against the Hetmanites codenamed “T-3”.

In one of the documents, A. Artuzov pointed out that the ogpu allegedly received information from foreign sources that Petlyurists were very interested in attracting M. Omelyanovych-Pavlenko to their side. In this regard, he proposed as one of the ways to continue the operation to consider the issue of switching the orientation of the legendary organization from P. Skoropadskyi to this authoritative General. Another document reads that the Hetmanites and the UPR were allegedly conducting some negotiations on the possibility of joining forces, and the gpu should not allow this. In other words, they played on the change in the moods and political views of individuals and the overall situation in Ukrainian emigration circles.

Escape on a German steamer

Having returned from another trip abroad, which took place in 1933, O. Levytskyi wrote a detailed report. In it, he reported on the complaints of the representatives of the Berlin Center that, apart from issuing leaflets and gathering information about the situation in Ukraine, the underground Hetmanate organization was doing nothing. For this he, allegedly, had to make an excuse that it was difficult to organize something without adequate funding. They allegedly promised to provide the money, and in order to receive it, they set the task of creating a secret appartment in moscow, through which this would be done.

Soon he announced in a letter to Berlin that the “moscow secret apartment” had been created. But there was no answer either in a month or in a two. The nkvd, which had already replaced the gpu, began to worry and put forward different versions. The leadership in moscow expressed dissatisfaction that the operational cultivation did not bring the expected result, that the intelligence collected abroad about the Hetman’s administration contained mostly general information. Therefore, they decided to proceed to the next stage of the operation.

At that time, lubyanka received information from other foreign sources about intensification of the Hetmanites’ activity. But there were no details. They hoped to learn something about it through correspondence with S. Shemet. But in vain. He expressed only moral support. And soon the letters stopped coming in altogether. Therefore, the chekists decided to imitate the “failure” of the Hetmanites’ underground in Poltava and resorted to arrests. As a result, O. Levytskyi had to flee abroad so that he, as the organizer of the entire underground network, would not suffer the same fate. The main goal was to infiltrate him directly into the leadership of the Berlin Center of the Hetman's Uprava for the development of all activities of the Hetmanate abroad.

Due to certain problems, the process of leaving for abroad took more than a year. All this time, all kinds of plans, legends, tasks were coordinated, briefings were conducted. For the sake of conspiracy, the code name “Turbogenerator” was changed to “Volyn” at one stage of the operation, and then to “Prymorskyi”. The agent spent several months in murmansk and leningrad waiting for the right moment so that the chekists could illegally transfer him to Danzig on some German steamer. Eventually it worked.

In Germany, O. Levytskyi, as advised, immediately contacted the representatives of the Hetman’s administration and told the Hetmanites about what had happened during his absence. They helped him with money and a place to live, and gave him a job as a referent for the soviet press. Besides, he prepared lectures which he delivered at some events. In general, everything was done in such a way that none of the outsiders had any suspicions of the fugitive's double game.

The nkvd eagerly awaited news from him. Step by step, as the task required, in a few letters he had to inform his address and agree on the time and place of meeting with the liaison. But for a long time nothing came from Berlin to Kyiv. Because of this, moscow chekists were nervous and instructed the Berlin residentura of the nkvd of the ussr to establlish Levytskyi’s place of residence and find out on the spot how he behaved and whether he told the Hetmanites about his cooperation with the nkvd.

To fulfill this task, the employee of the residentura even somehow managed to get access to the file of the registration department at the place of residence of O. Levytskyi. There was a remark there: according to the order of the police, no papers about this person should be given to anyone. The nkvd immediately put forward the version that he was either being cultivated or already recruited by German special services, or the Hetmanites themselves asked Germans to take appropriate measures to protect him against soviet agents in case of an act of revenge for the escape from the ussr. None of the versions was in his favor.

After some time, correspondence with O. Levytskyi was reestablished. He wrote about the checks he had to go through in the German police as a fugitive, about other difficulties in life, in general he told how he got settled and about the situation in the Hetman’s Uprava. According to archival documents, in August 1937, he illegally arrived in leningrad on a German steamship for a more detailed report on the fulfillment of tasks set by the nkvd in August 1937.

Of course, the materials in the case file do not mention the instructions given to him by the Hetmanites before his departure. Among other things, O. Levytskyi wanted to finally decide with his curators in the nkvd how to proceed. After all, his wife and two children were in Kyiv, to whom (as well as his mother and other close relatives), in his absence, a certain amount of money was paid from the nkvd fund for living. He understood that they too had become hostages in this operative game, which had dragged on for a long time. During this time, his wife was suspected of allegedly receiving news from her husband through other persons and did not report it. So the situation was quite difficult.

The fatal return. The year 1937

According to the materials of the investigative case, instead of a warm welcome, O. Levytskyi was immediately arrested. It happened on August 22, 1937. Soon he was transported under guard to Kyiv and placed in Lukianivka prison. He tried to explain that he was constantly performing the tasks of the gpu/nkvd, naming the chekists he met, from whom he received tasks, instructions, and encouragement. But most of the persons named by him at that time, after a series of reorganizations and changes in the leadership of stalin's special services, were already under suspicion, arrested or executed for treason and espionage for the benefit of German, Polish, British, Japanese and other intelligence agencies. In particular, the former chief of the foreign department of the gpu of the Ukrainian ssr Volodymyr Karelin, one of the initiators and developers of the “T-3” operation, was arrested in July 1937 (shot dead in September 1938), Artur Artuzov was executed on August 21, 1937.

During the interrogations, O. Levytskyi was forced to confess that he was “an agent of the German and Hetmanate intelligence and Gestapo, was tasked with creating an espionage-subversive organization under cover and using the legal opportunities created for him by the nkvd”. The confessions include a number of persons whom he allegedly recruited on behalf of German intelligence in the system of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian ssr, educational institutions, various departments and the red army. Besides, he mentioned career employees of German special services, with whom he allegedly met and through whom he handed over the collected intelligence of a defense nature.

In 1956, during the revision of the case and an additional investigation, all the episodes incriminating him were not found to be confirmed. All but one. During the interrogations, he gave detailed evidence that in 1929, on his second trip abroad, he admitted to P. Skoropadskyi that he acted on the instructions of the gpu.

Numerous details about the circumstances of O. Levytskyi's disclosure before the Hetmanites, given in his confession, testified that the chekists had really been fooled for a long time. Hence the lack of specific information about the activities of the Hetman’s Uprava, and its failure to provide funds for the functioning of the mythical underground organization in Ukraine, and the indecision in sending its representative to Kyiv to coordinate actions on the ground, but not the refusal of support. On the one hand, they could not risk in vain, on the other hand, they did not want the chekists to guess about the gpu/nkvd’s failure. Therefore, they tried in every possible way to play along and use the situation to their advantage.

At least, according to numerous materials of the case, the very fact of the existence of an extensive underground organization of Hetmanites-State-Builders on the territory of Ukraine enabled them to strengthen their weight among political figures of a number of countries, who helped with funds and promised support in restoring the independence of the Ukrainian state in case of future global confrontations between the ussr and Western countries.

At the same time, the chekists could never ascertain the fullness and veracity of those testimonies during the revision of the case in 1956, during the so-called “khrushchev thaw” after the death of joseph stalin. By then, one of the main figures in the case, M. Hohol-Yanovskyi, had already died (according to archival documents, back in the early 1930s). O. Levytskyi was sentenced to death after the one--and-a half-month investigation. According to documents from the investigative case, the sentence was carried out on October 19, 1937 (BSA of the SBU. - F. 5. – Case 43246).

Instead, after numerous appeals, the wife was informed that he was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment without the right to correspond and died in 1943 of liver cancer in the places where he was serving his sentence. The military collegium of the supreme court of the ussr issued a decision: the decision of the commission of the nkvd and the prosecutor's office of the ussr dated October 14, 1937 regarding Levytskyi O. F. should be canceled and the case should be terminated due to the absence of a crime. In the inspection materials, it was noted that the accusations of espionage were based only on O. Levytskyi's own testimony, which does not correspond to reality. In particular, the information about his belonging to German intelligence agencies has not been confirmed.

Not a word about O. Levytskyi's cooperation with the Hetmanites and his many years of activity on their behalf and under their direct supervision. Therefore, the kgb, which became the legal successor of the gpu/nkvd/mgb, did not want to admit their own miscalculations, mistakes, failures, to repent for the fact that back in the 1930s, in order to reinforce the fictitious operation, they deliberately destroyed the “kharkiv hetmanites’ community”, arrested and sentenced its members, noting in operational documents that this would benefit the case and in no way affect the overall success of the operation. The main thing was the goal, the means were of no importance, as were the lives of people.