140 Ë The Caucasus Group and Japan
peoples to be liberated from the Chinese, so it was logical for non-Russian peoples to
be freed from Russia, whose future would be dissolution into republics of nations.⁴⁹
Against this background of support by émigré groups, Japan actively courted their
leaders to take part in its schemes against the Soviet Union. Masatane Kanda (1890–1983), whose interest in the Caucasus was discussed in chapter 5 (see p. 123), was ap-
pointed as Japan’s military attaché in Turkey where he worked from 1932 to 1934. The
Caucasus occupied a special place in the projects of Kanda and the Japanese secret
service. At the time about 80 percent of the crude oil of the Soviet Union came from
the oil elds of Baku, Grozny and Maikop. In the event of war with the USSR, Japan
hoped to paralyze the Soviet military machine by inciting a general uprising of Geor-
gians, Azerbaijanis, and Northern Caucasians, whom Japan considered hostile to both
Russian imperialism and Bolshevism. In Turkey, Kanda energetically carried out work
with Caucasian émigrés. He detailed his activity there in a report he submitted after
leaving his post in Turkey. This report, whose original does not seem to have survived
World War II in Tokyo, was intercepted by Soviet intelligence. The content is known
only from this intercepted version. According to the report,(1) In the Azerbaijan line, we’ve been able to win over [Hosrovbek] Sultanov [former minister of
war of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]. It is desirable for him to work in Persia in the future.
Presently we have him travel around.... His relatives and his former subordinates live in Persia
near the Soviet-Persian borders. I consider that there is enough potential in him for actual work.
We’ve given him a code-name “Doctor Polat [or Polatt].”⁵⁰
(2) In the Northern Caucasus line, we’ve won over [Muhammad Said] Shamil. We intend to entrust
to him the task of carrying out anti-Soviet propaganda among the Muslims. I’ve ordered him to
make such plans.⁵¹
(3) In the line of Crimean Tatars, we’ve won over their representative Jafal Said Ahmed.... In
case it becomes impossible to use him against the [Soviet] Black Sea Fleet, I have an alternative
plan.⁵²49 See Hiroaki Kuromiya and Andrzej Pepłoński, “Between East and West: Gaiaz Iskhaki and Gab-
dulkhai Kurbangaliev.”Nowy Prometeusz2012, no. 2, 97.
50 Note, however, that Sultanov was a complex gure suspected of connections with the Soviet se-
cret police and British secret services. Before and during World War II, according German sources, he
also served as a particularly trusted German Abwehr agent in Turkey. Agabekov,OGPU, 183–84, and
G. von Mende. “Die kaukasische Vertretungen in Deutschland während des Zweiten Weltkrieges,” 21.
Personal Archives of G. von Mende (Oslo).
51 In 1932 Shamil temporarily abandoned the Promethean movement, rejoining it only in 1938 and
thus in 1934 was free to be contacted by Kanda. For his criticism of Poles and the Promethean move-
ment and his contact with Germans, see a report by a Soviet agent in his entourage dated 11 Jan-
uary 1935 in Lev Sotskov,Neizvestnyi separatizm na sluzhbe SD i Abvera. Iz sekretnykh dos’e razvedki
(Moscow: RIPOL KLASSIK, 2003), 284–88.
52 “Jafal Said Ahmed” refers, surely, to Dzhafer Seidamet [Kirimer] (1889–1960), one of the leaders
of the Crimean People’s Republic (1917–18). He later emigrated abroad and worked in the Promethean
movement.