■ 🕑 7. Putin resurrects SMERSH
   VLADIMIR Putin has resurrected the feared counterintelligence
   group Smersh, according to British intelligence.
   
   Smersh, its name derived from an acronym for “death to spies”,
   was formed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1941 to catch
   spies and round up dissidents against the communist regime.
   
   ...
   
   The MoD notes that it is not clear if the resurrected
   Smersh is a newly formed unit or just a new name
   for an existing unit which has been “re-badged”.
   
   It said the group was another example of how Moscow is consciously
   couching the Ukraine war in the “spirit of the Second World War”
   as well as the Kremlin’s obsession with “infiltration of external
   threats into the country”.
   
   The counterintelligence unit was initially formed to combat Nazi
   infiltration in the Red Army during World War II as well as squash
   dissent and insurgency in territory occupied by the Soviet Union
   in Germany and East Europe.
   
   It became known for it savagery and brutality, executing
   thousands of people who had been accused – rightly
   or wrongly, of being traitors to the Russian cause.
   
   Smersh operatives discovered Adolf Hitler’s remains
   after he killed himself in his Berlin bunker in 1945
   as the Red Army moved in towards the German capital.
   
   Russian politicians and bloggers say an official Smersh-style
   group is already active in Russian-occupied areas of eastern
   Ukraine and could already have been expanded to Russia proper.
   
   Putin has attempted to gain public support for the war by
   portraying the fight being between Russia and NATO forces
   that he says are trying to undermine and destroy Russia.