Cornescou, Irina Soltanovna (1916–)

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Cornescou, Irina Soltanovna (1916–)

Soviet spy. Name variations: Mademoiselle or Mlle Germaine. Born Oct 1916; dau. of Soltan Cornescou and Marfa Kalidze; graduate of Moscow University with a diploma in French.

Served as assistant to head of French Section at Soviet Ministry for Foreign Affairs (1941–45); at 31, entered Stiepnaya, Soviet Secret Service spy school, and took the name Mademoiselle Germaine; at 41 (1957), went to France where she served as French governess to a Belgian family while working as a master spy; became a Resident Network Operator in Brussels, where she set up an espionage network to gain information about Belgian military and research stations; arrested with her second-in-command Paul Veken by counter-intelligence agents.