Talk:Alexander Orlov (Soviet defector)

In serious need of a rewrite?
As I understand it the latest scholarship on Orlov essentially discredits most of what was previously thought about him. Not an expert but I think this really needs to be reflected in this article. 90.194.75.156 (talk) 18:15, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

Old talk
Shouldn't this state that he was in the NKVD at the time of defection? I think that the OGPU had been subsumed into the NKVD by then. Mozzerati 21:59, 2005 Feb 28 (UTC)

Question
Why does he have to names (Orlov and Feldbin)? Shouldn't that be explained? Uly 13:09, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

Question 2
Why was the paragraph on the transhipment of Spanish Gold removed?

Why Leib?
Russian & German versions use name Leiba I Can 15:14, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

sole external link is bad
bad link in xternal Links

Should have section devotd to murders of US citizens in Spain - no apology from U Michigan ?

G. Robert Shiplett 13:53, 20 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Whom did U Michigan murder? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.16.26.156 (talk) 10:26, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

Longstanding Claim needs source.
In the section dealing with the Spanish war, there is a claim that is not supported. It states: "The Republican government had agreed to use this hoard of bullion as an advance payment for Soviet military supplies." I have traced this edit to an IP editor, about 10 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aleksandr_Mikhailovich_Orlov&type=revision&diff=45609518&oldid=45485768     While I have no doubt that this became USSR's position, the alternative is that Russia simply looted the gold from Spain with the assistance of Communists in the Republic. If there was indeed such an agreement, it should be documented. 67.5.213.48 (talk) 17:55, 20 May 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Aleksandr Mikhailovich Orlov. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added tag to http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/10/30/164415.shtml
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20051213165754/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7022-12.cfm to http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7022-12.cfm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 04:03, 30 November 2017 (UTC)

How?

 * After being identified as a spy by the US Office of Naval Intelligence, Orlov obtained a passport in the name of William Goldin

How did he get a passport after being identified as a spy? --Error (talk) 20:50, 26 January 2019 (UTC)

Daughter
What happened to his daughter after Canada? Did she recover from her illness? --Error (talk) 20:57, 26 January 2019 (UTC)

"Lies"?
Did Orlov tell as many lies as Yuri Nosenko? You can read all about Nosenko in Tennent H. Bagley's 2007 book "Spy Wars". As regards Orlov, this is all Bagley has to say about him:

Outmaneuvered by Stalin, exiled and driven from one country to another, some of his helpers killed, Trotsky could not fail to be war -- but he proved unable to read the warnings he was getting. His faithful Dutch follower Sneevliet gave him good reason to believe that Mark Zborowski, the closest associate of Trotsky’s son Leon Sedov in the Paris-based International Secretariat of the movement, was an NKVD (early designation of the KGB) provocateur. Trotsky, instead of ridding himself of Zborowski, called for a tribunal to condemn Sneevliet for sowing discord. It must have jolted him two years later, when his son died mysteriously in a Paris hospital; few beside Zborowski had even known Sedov’s whereabouts. (Indeed, as was later learned, the KGB, with Zborowski’s help, had found and murdered Sedov.) Two years later, an anonymous source from inside the NKVD (identifying himself after his defection as Aleksandr Orlov, a senior official) sent a message telling Trotsky that Zborowski was an NKVD agent. Trotsky derisively rejected the warning as an NKVD effort to spread suspicion in his organization. Orlov’s message also told Trotsky that Stalin was trying to have him killed. Confirmation, if any was needed, came in the spring of 1940 when a team of assassins raided Trotsky's house in Mexico and sprayed seventy-five bullets into his bedroom, miraculously missing him and his wife. As a result, every morning thereafter Trotsky is said to have exulted, “Another lucky day; we are still alive.”

https://archive.org/details/SpyWarsMolesMysteriesAndDeadlyGames/mode/2up Was Kisevalter Nash? (talk)