Soviet illegals were officers without official (“legal”) cover. One of the most accomplished Soviet deep-cover illegals was Joseph “Grig” Grigulevich. Codenamed MAKS, later FELIPE, Grigulevich was one of Stalin’s principal assassins. Although he originally hailed from Lithuania, during his Soviet espionage career, Grig successfully masqueraded as a Spaniard and even became a Costa Rican diplomat. He was involved in the NKVD (KGB)’s initial attempt to kill Stalin’s nemesis, Leon Trotsky, in Mexico in 1940.
Stalin then chose Grig to assassinate his next nemesis, Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia, who in 1948 dared to break with Stalinist communism. Grig’s murder plan involved things like getting close to Tito and spraying him with pneumonic plague. Grig’s assassination plot was only called off when Stalin died in June 1953. In later life, Grigulevich became a respected Soviet historian, publishing widely on the history of Latin America. READ MORE from Calder Walton about Grigulevich and other assassins.
