"TASS is authorized to declare" by Yulian Semenov, summary

This action-packed 1979 spy drama centers on the uncompromising confrontation between two intelligence agencies during the Cold War. Based on a real Soviet counterintelligence operation to expose an American agent within Moscow’s diplomatic missions, the story faithfully recreates the work of operatives, analysts, and diplomats, depicting the complex intellectual battle without oversimplifying the adversary.

In 1984, director Vladimir Fokin produced a ten-part feature film of the same name, which received widespread acclaim. The novel is part of the author’s series of works about state security colonel Vitaly Slavin, opening a series of action-packed books about the work of Soviet law enforcement agencies.

The plan for a coup and an anonymous letter

In the African state of Nagonia, a popular government led by Prime Minister George Griso comes to power. American business, represented by billionaire Nelson Green, and the CIA, represented by Deputy Director Michael Welsh, are seeking to regain control of the region. Welsh and Robert Lawrence, a station chief in neighboring Louisbourg, are plotting a military coup, codenamed "Torch," using the forces of General Mario Ogano. American intelligence is relying on intelligence from a valuable source, codenamed "Smart," based in Moscow.

Journalist Dmitry Stepanov reports from Nagonia on the atrocities committed by the commandos who killed the infant Rosita and the mother and son of Griso. The Nagonian government requests urgent assistance from the USSR. Meanwhile, KGB General Konstantin Konstantinov receives a coded message about the attack on Soviet specialists and an anonymous letter from Louisbourg. The unknown source writes that CIA agents have recruited a Soviet specialist at the local Hilton Hotel. Konstantinov dispatches Colonel Vitaly Slavin to Louisbourg while he launches a search in Moscow.

Slavin’s investigation in Louisbourg

Slavin arrives in Africa disguised as a journalist. With the help of embassy employee Dulov, he meets businessman John Glabb and engineer Andrei Zotov. Soon, an unknown person throws a second package through the fence of the Soviet embassy. It turns out that this is the elderly émigré Ivan Bely (Bellew), a former Soviet citizen who lost two fingers in the war. He works as an electrician at the Hilton and accidentally stumbles upon the recruitment in room 607.

Using information from Vlasov’s Khrenov, Slavin attempts to establish contact with Bely. Sensing a threat, Glebb orchestrates the assassination of a witness: Bely is killed by a sniper right in the hotel workshop. Realizing he is being followed by General Stau’s police, Slavin enlists the help of the alcoholic American journalist Paul Dick. Slavin misinforms Glebb, pretending his interest in Bely was coincidental.

At the same time, Slavin is gathering dirt on Glebb. It turns out that Glebb is involved in heroin smuggling in Hong Kong, along with Chinese mafia figures and former Nazi Wilhelm Schantz, and his wife, Emma Schantz, is being held in a psychiatric hospital. In Nagonia, journalist Dmitry Stepanov speaks with American Donald Gee, who exposes Glebb’s financial machinations.

Checking suspects in Moscow

In the capital, Konstantinov’s group is checking all individuals with access to classified information about deliveries to Nagonia. The manager of the motor depot, Paramonov, turns out to be a habitual drunkard who tried to hide his failing eyesight from his superiors by bribing an African traffic police officer. Leopold Shargin, an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, is engaged in heated arguments with businessman Van Zeger about oil prices.

Olga Winter, a PhD candidate researching the activities of foreign monopolies, attracts the attention of counterintelligence. Her ex-husband, Zotov, is in Louisbourg, and her close friend, Sergei Dubov, works at the Coordination Institute. Olga Winter suddenly dies in the hospital. Doctors attribute the death to rapid pulmonary edema.

Dubov maintains a defiantly calm demeanor. He flies to Pitsunda, begins an affair with a young woman named Vronskaya, and feigns indifference. Konstantinov speaks with the deceased woman’s friends, Raisa Niyazmetova and Galina Potapenko. It turns out that Olga doubted Dubov’s claims about the cost of his Hilton room, submitted his precious gift from Cook & Sons for appraisal, and obtained a hotel brochure. Realizing that Olga had discovered his connections to foreign intelligence, Dubov poisoned her with a rare drug.

Provocation against Zotov and the arrest of Slavin

Glabb realizes that Soviet counterintelligence is getting close to solving the mystery. To protect Dubov, a valuable agent, the CIA orchestrates a cover-up. Glabb and his accomplice, Pilar, break into the apartment of engineer Zotov, plant a transmitter containing encryption pads, and beat him. General Stau’s police arrest Zotov on charges of espionage.

Glabb then eliminates his boss, Lawrence, with whom he had clashed over money and control of the operation. Glabb arranges Lawrence’s assassination and arranges for Slavin to appear outside his apartment. The police detain Slavin. However, journalist Paul Dick goes on television, exposing the ploy and claiming Slavin was lured into a trap.

The arrest of an agent and the failure of the CIA

In Moscow, Konstantinov is seeking the exhumation of Olga Winter’s body. An examination confirms poisoning with a special toxin. Suspicions against Sergei Dubov, codenamed "Smart," are fully confirmed. Dubov photographed classified documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade with a microcamera embedded in a pen.

Counterintelligence is preparing a capture. To avoid alerting the American intelligence, operative Gavrikov disguises himself as Dubov and drives out in his car, signaling at the "Children" road sign on Krupskaya Street. The real Dubov is detained in his own apartment. Realizing the inevitability of retribution, Dubov instantly bites into the poison capsule hidden in the handle and dies.

In a hiding place built into a flashlight battery, the operatives find new CIA instructions. They specify the location and time for the container’s transfer — at the railway bridge over the Moscow River. That night, in the designated bridge tower, KGB officers catch CIA station diplomat Robert Luns red-handed, who has come to collect the materials.

The Soviet leadership presents the American ambassador with material evidence: poisons, hiding places, spy equipment, and encrypted radiograms. Faced with the threat of an international scandal, Washington releases Slavin and Zotov and cancels Operation Torch. Newspapers publish the official statement: "TASS is authorized to announce…," summing up the counterintelligence operations.