Malinovska, Valentina

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Malinovska, Valentina

Soviet spy. Name variations: Valentina Nikolayevna or Nikolevna Malinovska; Greta Nielsson. Born in USSR.

Entered Soviet spy school Prakhovka (1944), where she trained for 10 years, then assumed new identity as a Swede named Greta Nielsson; smuggled into Sweden (1954), traveled to Copenhagen and entered into arranged marriage to a Dane in order to gain Danish citizenship; opened a gift shop which served as a front for espionage activities; developed spy network which included 17 operational agents and informers (by 1955); focused primarily on NATO installations as well as other military and technical secrets; in danger of being discovered, received signal from Moscow to go into hiding; by the time counter-intelligence discovered the truth about her, had successfully eluded arrest; her network caused significant damage to Western security and defense.