After the fall of the Romanov Family in 1917, Russia was thrown into a period of paranoia. The new communist government sought to weed out those still loyal to the Tsar, particularly those involved in monarchist activities, and those who were members of the White Army. The government’s fear of monarchists and other enemies of the state did not stay within the confines of Russian borders as émigrés from Russia had fled and settled all over the world, they were just as much of a risk as those still in Russia, perhaps more so as they were free to meet and plan without having to worry about repercussions from the Russian government. To combat the threat of a tsarist takeover and a return of the monarchy, Checka, under Felix Dzerzhinsky, developed a false-flag operation to lure both tsarist supporters and non-Russian foreign supporters into Russia to be dealt with. Code named Trust, the operation would span nearly a decade, fool almost everyone involve, and lead to the death or imprisonment of many people, including the British spy Sidney Reilly. This paper will examine various sources to outline the main objectives of the Trust and if those objectives were met. It will begin by outlining a previous operation by Reilly to overthrow the Bolshevik government that lead to them implementing Trust. From there the paper will outline the beginnings of Trust and how those involved were able to convince both émigrés and foreign government officials (and non-officials) that it was a legitimate organisation. Because the story of Trust is full of intricacies, this essay will confine its scope to three main areas: the creation of Trust, the literary operation involving Vasily Shulgin, and the alleged capture and execution of Sidney Reilly.
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