In 1964, KGB officer Yuri Korotkov defected to the West. Among the secrets he exposed, one stood out as particularly shocking to British intelligence: the USSR’s counterintelligence service was executing intricate honeytrap operations — a discipline previously considered the exclusive domain of foreign intelligence.
The most vivid demonstration of this tradecraft was a multi-year operation to recruit France’s ambassador to Moscow, Maurice Dejean.
The Kremlin’s “Special Target”
Maurice Dejean did not end up in the Lubyanka’s sights by accident. A veteran diplomat who began his career in the 1930s, he was a close friend and confidant of General Charles de Gaulle dating back to the French Resistance. De Gaulle trusted Dejean implicitly, regularly seeking his council on foreign policy.
When Dejean was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union, KGB leadership recognized a rare opportunity: through him, Moscow could directly influence Paris. The operation — a complex gambit that would stretch across three years — was personally directed by the head of Soviet counterintelligence, Lieutenant General Oleg Gribanov.
The Frenchman’s weakness
The 50-year-old diplomat’s Achilles’ heel was his passion for beautiful women, particularly blondes. Initially, intelligence officers considered using the wife of a Soviet diplomat as the femme fatale, but the plan fell flat: the ambassador was under the watchful eye of his own spouse.
The window of opportunity opened when Dejean’s wife traveled to Switzerland for medical treatment. With the coast clear, Soviet officers played their trump card. Rather than deploying a standard operative, they recruited a prominent Soviet film actress: Larisa Kronberg (Sobolevskaya).
It was a masterstroke of casting. Kronberg was not unknown in France; her screen debut in A Big Family (Bolshaya semya) had won an award at the Cannes Film Festival several years earlier. When the charming actress was introduced to the diplomat—courtesy of Soviet writer and poet Sergey Mikhalkov — flattered vanity and mutual affection quickly did their work.
Drama in a Rented Flat
A whirlwind romance followed: strolls through Moscow, private film screenings, fine dining, and champagne. The operation moved swiftly toward its climax.
At the height of their first intimate rendezvous in a rented apartment, the door was violently kicked open. On the threshold stood a “furious, betrayed husband” and his friend — played by KGB operatives. The intruders set upon the diplomat, while Kronberg took her share of theatrical blows. Tears streaming down her face, the actress played her part to perfection, pleading with her “husband” to stop because the man before them was the French Ambassador.
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As a shaken and bruised Dejean scrambled to find a way out of a career-ending scandal, a “good acquaintance” arrived to save the day: an influential Soviet official, played by General Gribanov himself, who had been waiting in an adjacent apartment. Gribanov offered to quell the conflict and quiet the police — in exchange for “mutually beneficial cooperation.”
The Aftermath
Facing the immediate ruin of his career and a devastating diplomatic scandal, Dejean complied. For the next six years, until his retirement in 1964, he served as a key channel through which the Kremlin influenced French policy — a dynamic that significantly contributed to a thaw in relations between Paris and Moscow.
For the principal actors, the affair ended quietly. Dejean avoided public exposure, while Larisa Kronberg was rewarded for her service with a valuable Swiss watch, official Moscow residency registration, and a room in a communal apartment. She resumed her film career, choosing never to speak publicly about her most consequential role.
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Kronberg had begun her screen acting career in 1954, specializing in distinct character roles. Her filmography eventually spanned 25 motion pictures, including celebrated Soviet titles such as Girl with a Guitar, Night Without Mercy, They Met on the Way, A Little Crane, Bride from the North, and The Return of Budulai.
In 1987, after a brief appearance as a journalist in Loan for a Marriage, Kronberg retired from acting and transitioned to a private life. She passed away on April 24, 2017, at the age of 87.
