ABSTRACT
Andrei Parastaev was sophisticated politically and intellectually, if not culturally. He was rather vain and on the coldest winter day one only ever saw him in a coat slung Byronically over his shoulders. However wary one had to be with Soviet officials, it was important to establish some personal rapport in order to have any chance of getting co-operation in making happen things that one wished to see happen. From the outset Parastaev seemed, despite being cultural attaché, more interested in politics than culture. He would ask about the author's attitude towards issues of the day, international and domestic. Parastaev was probably exercised by the fact that Bethell was then just bringing out his book The Last Secret. It was on the subject of the British surrender to Stalin’s blackmail in forcibly repatriating to the USSR cossacks and others after the war ended.
