TOKYO, May 9. Russian diplomats and employees of the Russian trade mission In Japan, on the 78th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, flowers were laid on the grave of the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge.
The flower-laying ceremony takes place at the «Tama Reien» cemetery in the suburbs of Tokyo. It is attended by employees of the diplomatic mission, trade mission, other Russian institutions, citizens of Japan and Russians living in Japan.
«Victory Day is close and dear to each of us, since there is no family in Russia and the republics of the former USSR that that war would not burn. The memory of it must be carried by us through the centuries. Tens and hundreds of millions of fighters and home front workers have contributed to this victory. The role of the outstanding intelligence officer with the call sign «Ramsay» is great. He obtained the most valuable information that formed the basis of the decisions made by the military leadership. These decisions influenced the course of the war, «said Gennady Ovechko, acting head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Japan.
“This made it possible to avoid a war on two fronts and transfer 26 new divisions from the eastern borders to the west. This made it possible to prevent the capture of Moscow by the Nazis and go on a counteroffensive,” the diplomat noted.
Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge had been working in Japan since 1933 as a correspondent for German newspapers. His brilliant analytical articles opened the way for him to the German Embassy, where, thanks to his charm, knowledge and intelligence, he soon won the friendship of the military attaché, and then he himself was offered a job as a press attaché. There is information that Sorge was even asked to head the party cell of the National Socialist Party at the German Embassy in Japan.
Before the start of the war, he was able to get accurate information about the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR and about the forces of the German army that would be involved in it, and in the fall of 1941 he announced that Japan would not attack the USSR, which made it possible to transfer the Siberian divisions to the defense Moscow. In 1964, Richard Sorge was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.