Symon Sozontiv. The Guardian of Ukrainians in France and the kgb’s “Guardianship” over Him

The operational case codenamed “Kauchuk” (“Rubber” – Transl.) appeared in the kgb archives for a reason. Formally, it was linked to a small rubber goods factory in France, owned by Symon Sozontiv. In reality, however, the chekists were interested neither in rubber nor in shoe soles. The focus was on a person – the long-time head of the “Ukrainska Hromadska Opika” in France, and later – the head of the executive body of the Ukrainian National Council, the de facto Prime Minister of the Ukrainian Government in exile. His character, political doubts, and ambitions were seen in Moscow as a possible tool for a large-scale propaganda operation.

Declassified documents from the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine provide the first glimpse into that long-term operation. The case file on Sozontiv was opened in 1936 and reactivated in the mid-1950s against the background of soviet residentura’s activities in Paris. The collected materials provide a detailed (much more complete than from any open sources) account of his biography, circle of contacts, and political roles. This publication is an attempt to reconstruct the hidden history of a man who had been hunted by the soviet secret service for decades.

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