"Syndicate–2" was an operational game developed and carried out by the State Political Directorate, aimed at eliminating the Savinkov's anti–Soviet underground.
Background
The interest of the famous terrorist Boris Savinkov to participate in underground anti–Soviet activities prompted the extraordinary commissioners to develop a plan to involve him in such activities under the supervision of special services, in order to eliminate the entire underground network. Such a plan was developed in the Counterintelligence Department of the State Political Administration under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, created in 1922. On May 12, 1922, a circular letter "On the Savinkov's Organization" was issued (it was published on the fourth day of the department's existence and became the first circular letter published). This letter addressed the issue of a new method of counterintelligence work – the creation of legendary organizations. Operation Syndicate–2 was carried out in parallel with a similar Operation Trust, aimed at liquidating the monarchist underground. Operation Syndicate–2 involved the head of the Counterintelligence Division Artur Artuzov, Deputy Chief Roman Pilar, Assistant Chief Sergei Puzitskiy and the personnel of the 6th Division of the Counterintelligence Division: Chief Ignatiy Sosnovskiy, Assistant Chief Nikolai Demidenko, secret officer Andrey Fedorov, authorized Grigory Syroezhkin, Semyon Gendin, Assistant to the Authorized Counterintelligence Department of the Plenipotentiary Representation of the State Political Administration for the Western Territory, Jan Krikman.
After the failure of the resistance in Poland and a series of failures in the anti–Soviet field, Boris Savinkov decided to single–handedly organize uprisings and terrorist acts in Russia, reviving the People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom. While in Paris, in the summer of 1922, he sent his adjutant Leonid Sheshenya to Russia, where he was detained by Soviet border guards while crossing the border from Poland. Through Sheshenya (who was under the threat of being shot for participating in Balakhovich's formations and agreed to cooperate with the United State Political Directorate), the extraordinary commissioners managed to uncover two agents – Mikhail Zekunov and V. Gerasimov, who turned out to be the leader of an underground organization. Also, on the basis of Sheshenya's testimony, the cells of the People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom in the Western Territory were liquidated.
Introduction to emigration
In the Counterintelligence Department, a project was developed according to which secret officer Andrei Fedorov should go abroad under the guise of a member of the Central Committee of the Liberal Democrats Party, Andrei Mukhin, in order to convince Savinkov of the existence of a capable underground organization in the Soviet Union and persuade him to cooperate. In addition, the extraordinary commissioners managed to recruit Zekunov, arrested in September 1922, who, after a month of briefing, was sent to Poland, where he met with Sheshenya's relative, a member of the People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, Ivan Fomichev. Fomichev sent Zekunov to Warsaw, where he reported to the resident of Savinkov, Dmitry Filosofov, the information that Sheshenya had come into contact with a large counter–revolutionary organization in the Soviet State, and handed over a letter to Sheshenya addressed to Savinkov. In June 1923, Fedorov went to Poland. In Vilno, he met with Ivan Fomichev, with whom they went to Warsaw. Fedorov demanded a meeting with Savinkov, in which he was denied (as envisaged by the extraordinary commissioners), instead Filosofov talked with him. Filosofov was suspicious of Fedorov, but he listened to his statement, and decided to send Fomichev to the Soviet Union for reconnaissance, which he informed Savinkov about in a letter. Savinkov approved the decision of his resident.