To explicitly investigate the enemy's plans
In addition to Sweden itself, the Russian intelligence center against Sweden is Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, London and Vienna, where there are also Swedish diplomatic representatives. Russian intelligence sent their agents to this diplomat or bribed Swedish embassy officials. Many archival documents testify to the continuous and tireless Russian intelligence activities in this direction.
October 4, 1706, Ambassador at Paris Matveev reported to Peter: "Without a secret base with this yard (France), from which we must take responsibility for all Swedish affairs, can not, because I reported to you here almost since last September, Last 27 days And Kroc (de Croix) is no more fun to be a tea, who is here 26 years old and living enough on all of Sweda, for what I hope your decision will be. "
De Croix was a Russian agent in a French court and had a job for scouting the intentions and policies of Sweden, the same agent was also a translator when the Tsesarskaya court in Vienna Masih - Shveykovsky, Thanks to him, information gained enormous national interest from the military intent of King Charles XII in 1709, and Peter took timely action to ensure Poltava's victory.
In addition to ongoing information on Swedish intentions, obtained by a network of Russian resident agents both in Sweden itself and in other European countries, Peter also organizes special engineering surveillance. This can be judged from Peter's code letter to Kurakin dated January 2, 1719.
"As far as the state karlskronskogo harbor none of us do not know to this day, in order to Zelo you need to find two people who have been there, that is one of the naval officers or Shepherd and Drugova who know engineering in small sciences, and that they do not know about each other, and engage them so as to make them give up secrets and that they are from Lübeck - go there if the search services and checked everything and should be waged so they are not accepted, and when you do not take,then, back to Lubeck or Danzig, you come to us, and if you can find koi there a year or two ago, it used all the lutche, and that these things are very secret and promise them a pretty dress. "
From a letter to Peter Kurakin sending "the flagship of the Lamelanta island king (in the Baltic Sea) July 30, 1719, we learned that these two men were found.In a postscript letter Peter wrote:" And thanks to two people, for the famous golantsa and France about the negotiations, the refunds, we were told, and especially the very first very broad about the Navy, just a little late, because we had already started, and they arrived; Buda and war is not okonchaetsya, the progress of people to send and end in March, we become.
But all the right to feel sorry for the money paid will, and should be sent offshore, and very thoroughly French say the other, and Navy tupenko. "Here, in addition to confirming the presence of a special naval intelligence organization in Sweden - the castle of Karlskrona, awarded also certified these two agents, with Potro's clarity characteristics.
All of this illustrates the structure of Russia's residency and its agent network in Sweden, the method of work and its management by Peter.
But Peter's intelligence I have not decided on their duties, if limited in the fight against such an opponent, like Sweden, only one source - Khilkov. And after Khilkov's capture was created quite strongly at the time, Russian residency secrets in Europe in the face of Kurakin, Matveeva, Lieutenant Ismailova and other colleagues from Peter, who worked officially as diplomats and informal Russian intelligence residents in court, where they had been accredited .
They created a network of agents to explore the country's political and military plans for his stay and also oversee the activities of the Swedish Embassy. Kurakin, for example, received direct orders from Peter to establish secret ties with Swedish ministers. Peter calculates that the Swedish ruling elite is dissatisfied with the protracted war and the stubbornness of Charles XII.
