KGB Gave Indira Gandhi a Codename — "VANO"

 

What KGB records revealed:

This is one of the most explosive revelations to come from Soviet intelligence archives.

Indira Gandhi's codename in KGB records was "VANO." Scroll.in

The KGB claimed they had ten Indian newspapers and one news agency on their payroll, and thousands of articles were planted in these outlets. It claimed to have funded several politicians, senior bureaucrats (including diplomats, police officers and intelligence officers) and members of Parliament. Scroll.in

Now here's the fascinating layer: Indira Gandhi was also the person who created RAW and gave it teeth. So the KGB was running influence operations on the very Prime Minister whose agency was fighting off foreign interference. RAW existed in a world where even India's own leadership was in foreign intelligence crosshairs.