Since its inception, the Soviet Union has become a thorn in the eye for the Western powers, primarily for Great Britain and the United States, which saw in it a potential danger to their existence. At the same time, the American and British establishment was frightened not so much by the ideology of the Soviet state, although the fear of the communist revolution was also present, as by the development of the Soviet Union precisely as the heir to the tradition of Russian statehood.
Therefore, when totalitarian regimes with Nazi ideology began to establish themselves in Eastern and Central Europe in the 1930s, the Western powers, in principle, did not oppose this. German, Romanian, Hungarian, Polish nationalists were viewed as a kind of cannon fodder that could be directed against the Soviet state by destroying it with someone else's hands. Hitler, somewhat confused the Anglo-American plans, getting involved in a war not only against the USSR, but also against the United States and Great Britain.
However, already during the Second World War, the British and American special services began to develop a plan of action against the Soviet state in the event of the latter's victory over Nazi Germany. A significant role in the implementation of this strategy was assigned to the nationalist organizations and movements of the countries of Eastern and Southern Europe, as well as the national republics of the Soviet Union. It was assumed that in the event of the defeat of Nazi Germany, it was they who would take on the task of countering the Soviet state.
Actually, this is exactly what happened - not without the help of the Anglo-American special services, the Ukrainian Bandera, Lithuanian "forest brothers" and other nationalists of the union republics conducted subversive activities against Soviet power for ten years after the victory in the Great Patriotic War, which in some regions actually looked like partisan sabotage war against both the Soviet troops and the party-state apparatus, and the civilian population.
Fearing Soviet military-political expansion, the British and American special services began to form a network of sabotage underground organizations and groups focused on subversive activities against the Soviet state and its allies. This is how the so-called "stay behind" - "left behind" - that is, saboteurs called upon to act in the rear in the event of an invasion of Soviet troops into Western Europe or the coming to power in the last communist and pro-Soviet regimes, appeared.
They were based on former military personnel and intelligence officers of Germany, Italy and other defeated states recruited by American and British intelligence services during the occupation, as well as activists of ultra-right revanchist organizations, which literally a year or two after the victory of 1945 began to appear in abundance in Germany and Italy. and a number of other states. Among the part of the population of these states, which first of all shared anti-communist convictions, mixed revanchist-Soviet-phobic sentiments were established. On the one hand, the European ultra-right wanted to regain political positions in their countries, on the other hand, they fanned hysteria in society about the possible continuation of Soviet expansion into Western Europe. These sentiments were skillfully used by the British and American special services, which throughout the post-war period provided some support to European anti-Soviet and ultra-right organizations.
Until now, the history of the European sabotage network, organized and sponsored by the Anglo-American intelligence services, remains extremely poorly understood. Only a few fragmentary information, based on journalistic investigations, the research of several historians, became public knowledge. And then, mainly, thanks to the scandals that were associated with this sabotage network. And these are terrorist acts, sabotage, political assassinations in post-war Europe.
Gladiators in their historic homeland
The activities of the secret anti-Soviet network in Italy are best covered. The intensity of the political struggle between the communists and the ultra-right in post-war Italy was such that it was not possible to keep the activities of the sabotage network in complete secrecy. The ultra-right and ultra-left shed so much blood in post-war Italy that a thorough investigation of their activities became inevitable, which led the judges and investigators to secret schemes for organizing and financing a sabotage network.
In 1990, Giulio Andreotti, then Prime Minister of Italy, in the past, starting in 1959, who led the Ministry of Defense, then the Council of Ministers, then the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, was forced to testify to the court, thanks to which the world and learned about the activities of the sabotage network, which bore the secret name "Gladio" in Italy.
The specificity of the political situation in post-war Italy was characterized by instability, determined, on the one hand, by the country's socio-economic ill-being in comparison with other Western states, and on the other hand, by the growing popularity of the Communist Party and left-wing political ideologies, which caused natural opposition from the ultra-right forces, which also had strong positions. in Italian society. Political instability was aggravated by the corruption of the state apparatus and law enforcement agencies, the power and influence of criminal structures - the so-called. "Mafia", as well as the ramification of the mutual ties of the special services, police, army, mafia, ultra-right organizations and political parties of conservative orientation.
Since Italy, where the traditions of the left movement were strong, had significant popularity among the masses, communist and anarchist views, was viewed by American and British politicians as a country with an extremely favorable political climate for communist expansion, it was here that it was decided to form one of the first subdivisions of the Gladio sabotage network. … Their backbone was originally former activists of Mussolini's fascist party, security and police officers with relevant experience and extreme right-wing beliefs. Since Italy was part of the zone of responsibility of the "allies" and was liberated by British, American and French troops, at the end of World War II, the Western powers received great opportunities to build a political system in liberated Italy and take advantage of the remnants of the fascist party, state and police apparatus.
The numerous neo-fascist organizations that emerged in Italy shortly after the end of World War II were largely created with the direct support of the country's security forces, in which many officers and generals who served under Mussolini retained their posts or received new ones. In particular, the supply of ultra-right weapons, training of militants, operational cover - all this was carried out by the forces of sympathetic officers of the special services and police.
But in fact, the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States was behind the activities of the Italian special services in charge of ultra-right organizations. Italy's entry into NATO meant an increase in the influence of the American intelligence services. In particular, a special agreement provided for interaction between the US Central Intelligence Agency and the Intelligence Service of the Italian Ministry of Defense (CIFAR).
The Italian military intelligence, which actually performed the functions of the country's main intelligence service, in accordance with this agreement provided information to the CIA, while the American intelligence service received the opportunity and the right to instruct CIFAR in the direction of organizing counterintelligence activities in Italy.
It was the CIA that "gave the go-ahead" to the appointment of specific generals and senior officers to leading positions in the Italian special services. The main task of the Italian counterintelligence was to prevent the victory of the communist party in the country by any means, including through sabotage and terrorist acts against leftist movements, as well as provocations, which society could blame the communists and other leftist organizations for.
The ideal force for carrying out provocations was, of course, the neo-fascists. Many of them followed the tactics of the so-called infiltration - infiltration into the ranks of left-wing and left-wing radical organizations under the guise of communists, socialists, anarchists. There have even been cases of deliberate creation by neo-fascists of pseudo-left organizations that existed under communist and anarchist guises, but at the same time acted in the interests of the ultra-right and the secret services behind them.
Since the late 1950s - early 1960s. Italian military intelligence CIFAR took advantage of the CIA's instructions to create the so-called. "Action commands". Special groups were created from among the radical ultra-right and paid provocateurs, which were engaged in attacks on the headquarters of political parties, administrative institutions, and all kinds of criminal actions. At the same time, the main task of the "action teams" was to present the actions they performed as the activities of left-wing and left-wing radical organizations. The implication was that the impersonation of communists with pogrom-mongers and criminals would contribute to the loss of the Communist Party's authority among the broad strata of the Italian population. The number of participants in such groups, according to the data available to modern historians alone, was at least two thousand people - criminals and saboteurs capable of any provocative actions.
Another CIFAR project in the framework of Operation Gladio was the creation of a network of clandestine militant groups from among the former military personnel, marines, carabinieri corps, as well as police and special services. Underground groups set up caches of weapons throughout Italy, trained intensely, being ready to immediately commit an armed rebellion in the event of a victory of the Communist Party in the elections. Since the Communist Party really had a very large political influence in Italy, serious financial resources were invested in the creation, training and maintenance of underground groups of "gladiators".
In the south of Italy, where the positions of the Sicilian and Calabrian mafia were traditionally strong, the American and Italian special services relied not so much on the ultra-right as on the mafia structures. It was supposed to deal with the communists and other leftists with the help of mafia militants in case of receiving the corresponding order. It is indicative that in the late 1940s, when the prospects for further political development of Italy were still unclear and the risk of the communist opposition coming to power was extremely high, in Sicily and in southern Italy the mafia carried out armed terror against the communists - of course, on a direct tip from the special services. Several dozen people died during the shooting by fighters of the mafia group of the May Day demonstration in Portella della Ginestra in 1947. And this was far from the only action of the mafia to intimidate left-wing activists. It should be noted that many leaders of mafia groups were also characterized by anti-communist views, since if left-wing parties came to power, the mafia bosses feared its gradual destruction.
In northern Italy, where the industrialized regions of the country were located and the working class was large, the left, primarily the communists, had a much stronger position than in the South. On the other hand, there were no serious mafia structures of the level of the Sicilian or Calabrian mafia, so in Milan or Turin the special services were betting on the ultra-right. The largest right-wing radical organization in Italy was the Italian Social Movement, which actually had a neo-fascist character, but supported the Christian Democratic Party. Christian Democrats, as a conservative political force, acted in that period as the main political "roof" of the neo-fascists.
Of course, they did not directly support the Italian social movement and groups close to it, distanced themselves from the overly radical right, but on the other hand, it was the acting politicians from the CDP who blessed the Italian special services to carry out bloody provocations, the formation of sabotage and provocative groups, covered ultra-right activists who commit crimes …
The Italian social movement stood on nationalist and anti-communist principles. Its appearance in 1946 was associated with the unification of several pro-fascist political groupings, which, in turn, arose on the basis of the remnants of the Mussolinian fascist party. Arturo Michelini, who headed the ISD in 1954, adhered to a pro-American position, advocating cooperation with NATO in the fight against a common enemy - the Communist Party and the Soviet Union behind it. In turn, Michelini's position caused dissatisfaction with the more radical part of the ISD - the national revolutionaries, who spoke not only from anti-communist, but also from anti-liberal and anti-American positions.
Although the national revolutionary faction ISD initially opposed the party's orientation towards cooperation with NATO, ultimately the anti-communism of the national revolutionaries defeated their anti-Americanism. At least, the latter retreated to secondary positions and the ultra-right groups that emerged on the basis of the national revolutionary wing of the ISD turned into one of the main weapons of the Italian (and therefore American) special services in the fight against the left opposition.
The heirs of the duce
Several people stood at the origins of radical neo-fascism in post-war Italy. First of all, it was Giorgio Almirante (1914-1988) - a journalist, a former lieutenant of the fascist National Republican Guard, a participant in World War II, after which he headed the ISD for some time. It is significant that Almirante, who was a supporter of the course towards the radicalization of the Italian social movement, adhered to liberal views in the economy, in particular, opposed the nationalization of the energy complex.
Stefano Delle Chiaie (born 1936) led the National Avant-garde, the largest and most famous splinter from the Italian social movement, with radical positions and a more orthodox fascist ideology.
- Stefano Delle Chiaie
At the same time, it was the militants of the National Avant-garde who became the main fighting nucleus of the anti-communist terror in Italy in the 1960s - 1970s. In particular, the National Vanguard organized numerous attacks on communist demonstrations, the headquarters of the communist party in the regions, and attempts on the life of communist party activists. Delle Chiaie took part in the preparation of the military conspiracy "Rose of the Winds", being the leader of the street groups, which were entrusted with the task of organizing riots in Italian cities. It should be noted that in the end, Delle Chiaie was still forced to move to Spain, where General Franco was still in power, and later to Latin America.
It is significant that representatives of the Italian ultra-right movement have repeatedly made attempts to infiltrate the left environment, including quite successful ones. Some of the Italian neo-fascists have been infiltrating all their lives, let's say, on a professional level, trying to combine fascist and leftist ideology (we will see something similar in the activities of Right Sector and Autonomous Opir in post-Soviet Ukraine).
Mario Merlino (born 1944), a friend and ally of Delle Chiaie in the National Avant-garde, all his life tried to synthesize anarchist and fascist ideology - both in theory and in practice, trying to attract anarchist youth sympathetic to the left into the ranks of neo-fascists. He managed to simultaneously be a member of the Bakunin Club, organized by the anarchists, and visit Greece during the reign of the “black colonels” in order to adopt the “advanced”, in his opinion, experience in organizing state administration. Until now, he actively manifests himself in the intellectual and political life of Italy, makes political statements. One of his last appearances was associated with a speech in Ukraine, in which he supported the "Right Sector" and other Ukrainian ultra-right.
Prince Valerio Junio Borghese (1906-1974) came from a very famous aristocratic family, a submarine officer who commanded a submarine during World War II, and then - the Tenth Flotilla, designed to carry out sea sabotage. It was Borghese who directed the activities of the "military wing" of the Italian ultra-right, including the preparation of sabotage groups and terrorist acts against the communist opposition. After an unsuccessful military coup in 1970, Borghese emigrated to Spain.
- Prince Borghese
But the real "shadow director" of Italian neo-fascism, coordinating the actions of ultra-right organizations in the interests of the US CIA, was called Licho Gelli (born 1919) by many media and historians. This man, with the standard biography of the Italian right - participation in the Mussolini Fascist Party and the Republic of Salo during the Second World War, the neo-fascist movement in the post-war period, was a wealthy entrepreneur, but also the leader of the Italian P-2 Masonic lodge.
When in 1981 the list of members of the lodge headed by Licio Gelli got into the Italian press, a real scandal erupted. It turned out that among the Masons there were not only members of parliament, but also senior officers of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, including the chief of the general staff of Admiral Torrizi, the director of military intelligence of SISMI, General Giuseppe Sanovito, the prosecutor of Rome Carmello, as well as 10 generals of the carabinieri corps (analogue of the internal troops), 7 generals of the financial guard, 6 admirals of the navy. In fact, the lodge was able to control the activities of the Italian armed forces and special services, directing them in their own interests. There is no doubt that the Licho Gelli lodge worked closely not only with the ultra-right and the Italian mafia, but also with the American special services.
It can be argued that it is on the conscience of all the leaders of the ultra-right organizations, their patrons from the Italian special services and police, and, above all, American intelligence, that is responsible for the "lead seventies" - a wave of terror and violence in Italy in the 1970s, which cost lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people, including those who had nothing to do with political activity or service in law enforcement agencies.
- Freemason Licho Jelly
On December 12, 1969, an explosion thundered at Piazza Fontana in Milan, which turned out to be one of the links in a chain of terrorist attacks - the explosions also thundered in Rome - at the memorial to the Unknown Soldier and in an underground passage. Seventeen people were killed in the attacks, and the police, as the far-right had supposed, blamed the anarchists for the incident. The arrested anarchist Pinelli was killed as a result of interrogation ("died" according to the official version). However, it was subsequently found out that the anarchists and the left in general had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks in Milan and Rome. They began to suspect neo-fascists - the leader of the Spiritual Superiority group Franco Fred, his assistant Giovanni Ventura, member of the National Avant-garde Mario Merlino, and Valerio Borghese was accused of the general leadership of the attack. However, the accusations remained unproven, and who in reality was behind the attacks on December 12 is officially unknown to this day.
The explosion at Piazza Fontana opened a streak of terror that swept through the entire 1970s. On December 8, 1970, a military coup was planned, led by Valerio Borghese. However, at the very last moment, Borghese abandoned the idea of a coup and emigrated to Spain. There is a version that within the framework of the Gladio concept, it was precisely the preparation for the coup as a rehearsal, a review of the forces at the disposal of the sabotage network in the event of an aggravation of the situation in the country was important. But the coming to power of the ultra-right through a coup was not planned, and that is why at the very last moment, American intelligence, through the Italian special services, gave the go-ahead to the organizers of the conspiracy.
No less intense terrorist activity than the ultra-right in Italy in the 1970s was demonstrated by the left-wing radical groups, primarily the Red Brigades. It remains to be seen whether the brigadiers acted solely in accordance with their own radical communist (Maoist) beliefs, or were provoked by embedded agents.
In any case, the activities of left-wing extremist groups aimed at increasing terrorist activity and killing political figures rather played into the hands of those political forces that were interested in reducing the popularity of the Communist Party and deteriorating relations with the Soviet Union. This is most clearly seen in the murder of the Italian politician from the Christian Democratic Party Aldo Moro, after which the popularity of the Communist Party in Italy began to decline, legislation was tightened, the activities of the police and special services intensified in the direction of limiting the personal freedoms of Italians, and prohibiting the activities of some left-wing radical organizations.
Black Colonels
The Gladio plan played an even more serious role than in Italy in Greece, which was also considered one of the strongholds of the communist movement in southern Europe. The situation in Greece was aggravated by the fact that, unlike Italy, Greece was geographically located in close proximity to the "socialist bloc", being surrounded by socialist states from almost all sides. In Greece, as well as in Italy, during the Second World War there was a very strong guerrilla movement inspired by the Communist Party. In 1944-1949, for five years, there was a civil war in Greece between the communists and their opponents from the right and monarchists. After the defeat of the Communists, who did not receive proper support from the USSR and its allies, the Communist Party was banned, but continued its activities underground.
Naturally, the NATO command, the leadership of the American and British secret services viewed Greece as the most vulnerable country for Soviet expansion in southern Europe. At the same time, Greece was an important link in the chain of "containment zone", which the United States and Great Britain formed from states aggressively disposed towards the USSR and communism along the perimeter of the western borders of the socialist bloc (Shah's Iran - Turkey - Greece - Germany - Norway). The loss of Greece would mean for the United States and NATO the loss of the entire Balkan Peninsula and control over the Aegean Sea. Therefore, in Greece, it was also decided to create a powerful and ramified ultra-right movement as a component of a single sabotage network focused on countering Soviet expansion.
Unlike Italy, the military coup in Greece was brought to an end and ended with the coming to power in 1967 of the regime of "black colonels", ultra-right in nature and went down in history thanks to repression and almost official support of neo-Nazism and neo-fascism. The conspiracy of army officers who seized power in the country with the help of paratrooper units was led by Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos, Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, Lieutenant Colonels Dimitrios Ioannidis and Kostas Aslanidis. For seven years, until 1974, the "black colonels" maintained an ultra-right dictatorship in Greece. Political repressions were carried out against communists, anarchists and in general people who sympathize with the left views.
- Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos
At the same time, the junta of “black colonels” did not have a clear political ideology, which significantly weakened its social support in society. Opposing communism, the junta of "black colonels" attributed to it all other manifestations of modern society, alien to the conservative moods of the Greek military, including youth fashion, rock music, atheism, free gender relations, etc. In the case of Greece, the United States preferred to turn a blind eye to blatant violations of parliamentary democracy, which the United States declared itself to be the guardian of if the left came to power. Since the "black colonels" were extreme anti-communists, they suited the American leadership and intelligence agencies as the country's leaders. In turn, the activities of the "black colonels" contributed to the spread of left-wing and anti-American sentiments in Greece, which remain at the peak of their popularity in the country to this day.
"Gladio" after the Soviet Union: was there a dissolution?
Since 1990, materials about the activities of the Gladio network have gradually appeared in the media, which are still extremely fragmentary. Many researchers on this secret network believe that the process of "perestroika" in the USSR and the subsequent sovereignization of Russia and other former Soviet republics catalyzed the gradual abandonment of the Gladio plan by the US and NATO. It is understood that the structures of "Gladio" in most European states after 1991 were dissolved. However, the political events of recent years - in the Middle East, Ukraine, North Africa - make us doubt the very possibility of the American and British intelligence services abandoning the Gladio plan.
In particular, the activity of neo-Nazi organizations in Ukraine in all post-Soviet years is actually a classic scheme for the implementation of the "Gladio" project. With the tacit support of the special services and with the knowledge of American intelligence, ultra-right organizations are being created, whose activists spend time honing their combat skills as saboteurs, street fighters, and terrorists. Naturally, the operational cover, financing, organization of such training camps are carried out by the special services or structures under their control. After all, otherwise, the organizers and members of such formations had to go to jail under criminal articles and for long terms long before they had the opportunity to prove themselves at the Kiev Euromaidan and in the subsequent tragic events.
- Ukrainian neo-Nazis
The essence of such support for right-wing radical groups from the intelligence services controlled by the American intelligence is that in this way a prepared and, more importantly, ideologically motivated armed reserve is formed, which can be used at the right time in the interests of the United States and its satellites. And if the reliability of army or police units remains in question even in the case of venality of their chiefs, then ideologically motivated fighters - fanatics of right-wing radical or fundamentalist organizations can be used practically without fear of their possible refusal to take action.
In the "X-hour", the right-wing radical groups are the most prepared and trained force, capable of acting in extreme conditions. The events on the Maidan showed that in the event of a betrayal of a part of the country's elite, the softness of the leaders of the state and law enforcement agencies, the scenario of the seizure of power by pro-American political forces relying on the military detachments of neo-Nazis becomes quite real.
By the way, almost all Italian leaders of the neo-fascist movement of the "lead seventies" who have survived to this day expressed their support for the Ukrainian ultra-right movement, which plays a key role in the events of winter 2013-2014 and spring-summer 2014. on the territory of post-Soviet Ukraine. If we take into account that the structures of Ukrainian nationalists throughout post-war history were created and supported by American and British intelligence services, then it is obvious not only ideological, but also direct, so to speak, physical continuity of the US-controlled Italian neo-Nazis or Ukrainian Bandera of the first post-war decades with their like-minded people at the beginning of the XXI century.
Since the ring around Russia has significantly shrunk and moved eastward over the twenty post-Soviet years, the Gladio structures, as we can assume, are moving into the territory of the former Soviet republics. In Ukraine, partly in Belarus, Moldova, the role of local support and the backbone of sabotage groups is played by ultra-right organizations, as well as their ideological relatives in Italy or Greece, who still preserve cave anti-communism and Russophobia. The ideological constructs of all such organizations are built solely on hatred of Russia, for which any phraseology can be used - from social and democratic to Nazi and racist.
In Central Asia, in the North Caucasus, a similar role, modeled on the Middle East and North Africa, is played by religious fundamentalist organizations, also operating according to the scheme “military education and training of militants - spreading their ideas in society using social networks and mass propaganda - organizing sabotage and terrorist acts - the seizure of power or the beginning of a civil war with the help of some officials - traitors). It is possible that an attempt to use such a scenario will take place on the territory of modern Russia.
