268 • IVANOV, EUGENE
cists having been advised that war would begin without any prior
break of diplomatic relations.
MI5’s investigation in England suggested that Italian consuls and
Fascist organizations had collected some rough intelligence on the
movement of troops and mate ́riel to the Near East, but that most of
this information had come from open sources with the help of the
party. Later theJoint Intelligence Committeedirected MI5 should
keep a watch on the FAE and the Italian Overseas Youth Organization
(Giovani Italiani all’Estero). Many Italian children on British terri-
tory were British subjects by birth, but the FAE made every effort to
preserve their ‘‘Italian essence’’ (italianita`). One of their methods
was summer camps in Italy, where large numbers of children from
Italian communities around the world came together to be fed Italian
patriotic propaganda, to be put through military training, and to be
generally imbued with militarism.
MI5’s investigations continued up to the outbreak of war in Sep-
tember 1939 but produced no material evidence of Italian espionage.
There were a few minor cases in the Middle East and there were vari-
ous indications of Italian intrigues and propaganda in the Middle East
aimed at boosting Italian, and diminishing British, prestige.IVANOV, EUGENE.AGRUofficer working under assistant naval at-
tache ́cover at the Soviet embassy in London since March 1960, Eu-
gene Ivanov was identified as a potentialhoneytrapvictim by
ColonelOleg Penkovsky, who had been asked to name vulnerable
colleagues.MI5attempted to mount an operation against Ivanov, and
Keith Wagstaffe used the alias of Keith Woods to approach a man
Ivanov was known to be in contact with, the society artist and osteo-
path Stephen Ward. The plan was abandoned in July 1961 when the
Cabinet secretaryasked the secretary of state for war,John Pro-
fumo, for his cooperation, and he declined. MI5 took no further ac-
tion against Ivanov, unaware that he had been conducting an affair
withChristine Keeler, who was also sharing her favors with Pro-
fumo.
Ivanov fled to Moscow when Keeler’s affair with Profumo became
public and later cooperated in the publication in 1992 of his memoirs,
The Naked Spy, which was withdrawn following legal action bySir
Anthony Eden’s widow, Lady Avon. Ivanov died of alcoholism in
January 1994, aged 68.