KROTKOV, YURI• 297don and then returned him to Canada, where he was the subject of
two assassination attempts. His book,In Stalin’s Secret Service,was
published in 1940 and was the subject of much criticism from his
friend Elisabeth Poretsky who asserted:Krivitsky in his ghostwritten book took credit for operations he had noth-
ing to do with. Unable to write in English, he had to rely on ghost-writers,
and he knew nothing of the American press. Whoever wrote his book cared
only for one thing: to make it as sensational as possible. I am sure he sim-
ply gave the writers the information and then looked on, as he had always
done, while they distorted it. The errors and exaggerations I have pointed
out are only the most obvious ones; the omissions from the book are al-
most as serious as the distortions. It did create a sensation—a sinister one,
in Europe, and for me.Krivitsky was eventually found shot dead in his locked Washington,
D.C., hotel room in February 1941—apparently the victim of suicide,
although many believe that, despite the note he left, he finally had
been cornered by one of the assassination squads that had been sent
to Canada to liquidate him. Whether self-inflicted or otherwise, Kri-
vitsky had inflicted massive damage on theGRUand was known to
have been a priority target. In addition to tipping off MI5 to Captain
King’s espionage, he revealed to the French Surete ́and theFederal
Bureau of Investigationthe extent of the Soviet networks in Europe
and America.KROTKOV, YURI.A well-known Soviet playwright and the author
of the anti-American playJohn: Soldier of Peace, based on the life
of Paul Robeson, Yuri Krotkov’s name first became known when he
was implicated in a scheme masterminded by theKGB’s Second
Chief Directorate to discredit the French ambassador in Moscow,
Maurice Dejean. Dejean and his wife had been targeted for ahoney-
trapand as soon as Krotkov revealed the plot, toMI5interrogators
in September 1963, the diplomat was recalled to Paris.
A Georgian by birth, Krotkov’s parents were an actress and an art-
ist. After university in Tbilisi, Krotkov moved to Moscow in 1938
and joined the Literary Foundation of the Union of Soviet Writers.
He served in the Red Army during the war and as a TASS correspon-
dent. In 1959, as a favored intellectual, he made a journey by car