Part 1
We already talked about high-profile political murders in the 20s. The last century, which became the echo of the Civil War in Russia. In 1923, Maurice Konradi in Lausanne shot the Soviet envoy Vaclav Vorovsky and was justified by the Swiss court. In May 1926, Samuel Schwarzburd in Paris killed Simon Petlyura and was also justified.
But the fate of the Russian emigrant Boris Kover, who shot the Soviet envoy to Peter Voikov in Warsaw, took shape differently – the Polish court sentenced him to a lifelong imprisonment. True, he was released in amnesty after 10 years, in 1937.
“This morning, at the Main Warsaw Station, an attempt was attempted for Voikov … Cover made six shots from a revolver. One bullet hit the heart. Voikov, although mortally wounded, was not at a loss, and, grabbing the revolver, fired four shots at the killer. At the time of the arrest of Corver, he exclaimed: “I acted in the name of Russia, not to Soviet Russia, but – our Motherland.
The identity of the killer is established. He is a Russian monarchist student Boris Ivanovich Cover, 19 years old. During interrogation, he stated that he had committed murder for political reasons ”(“ Latest News ”(Paris), June 8, 1927)
The Soviet seal reacted very violently to the murder of Voikov and accused Great Britain of organizing the crime (we recall that in the summer of 1927 the campaign “Our answer to Chamberlain” was in full swing:
“The brutal murder from the corner of the Soviet envoy is not accidental. It is full of great and terrible meaning. It is a new link in the chain of crimes of the enemies of the USSR, the chains of sublies, fraud, arrogant ultimatums, robber raids. It occurred shortly after the rupture of English-Soviet relations, after dirty and impudent notes and Chamberlain’s statements … We still do not know all the details of a wild, bloody cause. We still do not know whose hand directed the killer’s revolver, what are the secret threads of the shameful crime. But we have no doubt for a minute that such crimes could not happen besides the participation of those who lead the struggle against the country of the Soviets, who are a shot of the entire international reaction. We know very well the pogrom role of the English conservative government ”(Pravda, June 8, 1927)
3 days after the murder, June 10, a message to the OGPU was published in the central Soviet newspapers:
“In view of the open transition to the terrorist and sabotage and disclosure struggle by the monarchical White Guard, acting from abroad at the direction and funds of foreign intelligence, the OGPO college decided to publish a sentence about the penalty-execution-issued at a meeting of June 9th”
According to this decision, twenty people were shot, including Prince Pavel Dolgoruky. Of course, this decision was made not only because of the murder of Voikov-in 1927, several terrorist attacks and murders of party functionaries were committed in the USSR. But among the Russian abroad, such actions of the Soviet government caused a flurry of critics, journalists spoke of the resumption of red terror.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
