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Czechoslovak spy radio sets
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During the Cold War, Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia, 1
was a federal state behind the Iron Curtain.
It was part of the Warsaw Pact and had two
major secret services, both of which had strong ties with the
Russian KGB: the
Státní Bezpečnost (StB),
which was the secret state police,
and the
Zpravodajská Správa Generálního Štábu (ZS GŠ),
the military intelligence agency.
In addition, there was Správa 1 (Government Dept. 1), the secret intelligence
agency. The main task of these three organisations was national and foreign
espionage (more...).
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In most West European countries, the Czechoslovak embassy acted as the
cover for their covert espionage activities. Apart from the ambassador and
a handful of assistents, one way or another all embassy personnel worked
for the StB or the ZS GŠ, often under the cover of being
a diplomat, a cultural attaché or a press attaché.
Intelligence gathered by those 'diplomats' was reported to the so-called
Resident,
who would pass it on to Centre at headquarters in Prague.
It is little known that the StB and ZS GŠ
were also active outside Europe, in countries such as Australia,
the US, Congo, Angola and Iraque.
Czechoslovakia was for many years the only Warsaw Pact state with an
embassy in Australia, for example, as a result of which they were
even carrying out operations on behalf of the
Russian KGB.
In many cases, clandestine short-wave transmitters,
or spy radio sets, were
used to pass coded messages onto Control in Czechoslovakia.
Below are some examples of such equipment
some of which was re-discovered by Crypto Museum in 2015.
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Following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the subsequent
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the state of
Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved into
the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.
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Czechoslovak spy radio sets
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In July 2015, Crypto Museum received a large donation from a 'former user'.
It consisted of equipment and related documentation of a variety of spy radio sets
and other covert equipment that had been used by the intelligence agencies of the
former Czechoslovakia.
Although all covert equipment was destined to be
destroyed, some devices have miraculously escaped demolition.
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Although most spy radio equipment has been given a model number and/or
a codename, some of the covert equipment of the former Czechoslovakia
has so far been unidentified. For this reason we have 'invented'
codenames for some of the equipment, often based on the primary
target for which the device was used.
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Apart from the StB, the radio sets were also used by certain departments
of the Czechoslovakian Ministry of Internal Affairs, such as
Správa 1 - Rozviedka 1
(department 1 - espionage) and Správa 2 - Kontrarozviedka
(counter-espionage).
Most radio sets and related equipment were developed and built at
Správa 6 - Spojovacia Technika 1 (communication technology).
As it is often difficult to determine whether the equipment was deployed
by the StB, the
ZS GŠ
or Správa 1 (the actual Secret Intelligence Agency),
we will commonly refer to all of them here as StB, although we are
aware of the fact that this might actually be incorrect in some cases.
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In this context Správa refers to a Department of the Czechoslovakian
Government.
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Known Czechoslovakian equipment
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- Hvězda 5
- Hvězda 5A
- Kongo 1
- Labe
- Lipan
- Merkur
- Mesic
- Neptun
- Neptun II
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This name is not correct, but is suggested by us, as the device does not
have a project name or number. It will be used as a nickname until
the true identity of this device is discovered.
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Most devices that were developed by Správa 6, were given a project number
starting with 'TI'. The table below shows the currently known numbers as
found on the equipment in our collection as well as on the Wireless
for the Warrior website [2].
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Government Department
Správa
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- Secret Intelligence Agency (espionage)
- Counterintelligence (counter-espionage)
- ?
- Surveillance
- ?
- Communications technology
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Monday 07 September 2015. Last changed: Monday, 11 December 2023 - 10:04 CET.
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