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I've heard the claim as urban legend many times. Allegedly in 1970s KGB has sponsored various Western "anti-war" movements, especially the ones that could hinder Western nuclear tests. Fact is Greenpeace was one of such a movements, created in response to nuclear testing in Alaska, which allegedly won them help of KGB. Quite vague claims. But recently I've seen political discussion where more concrete claims where made: that the original Rainbow Warrior, after it has been bought by Greenpeace, it has been refurbished in a shipyard in Tallinn at KGB's expense. Allegedly the information comes from the Mitrokhin Archive.

Is there any truth to any of these claims?

vartec
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  • "Sponsered" seems like a funny word to use here---I'm envisioning a gaudy KGB logo on the bow of the ship---should we take this to mean that the KGB gave substantial amounts of money to Greenpeace with the knowledge of the people running the organization? Is there a better way to say that? – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mar 01 '13 at 16:10
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    @dmckee: I believe "sponsored" to be the correct term to use here. Compare for example with usage as in ["State-sponsored terrorism"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-sponsored_terrorism). – vartec Mar 01 '13 at 16:13
  • @dmckee - "sponsor: a **person or an organization that pays for** or plans and carries out a project or activity". ([M.-W.](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sponsor)) . Sponsorship needs not be for advertising purposes, though it frequently is. – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 16:29
  • I'm having trouble locating a notable claim for the Tallinn refit. – DJClayworth Mar 02 '13 at 18:32
  • @DJClayworth: claims by right wing supporters in various forums in Poland. I wouldn't consider it notable, if it wasn't for multiple times it was mentioned. – vartec Mar 03 '13 at 21:58
  • Can you post a link? – DJClayworth Mar 04 '13 at 03:06
  • @DJClayworth: for example http://goo.gl/G9jdp http://goo.gl/RL2Xl – vartec Mar 07 '13 at 12:21

2 Answers2

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It's impossible to prove that no money from the KGB, or any other source, ever reached Greenpeace (and if it did it might have been without the knowledge of Greenpeace). However we can answer the specific question about the Rainbow Warrior's conversion

Rainbow Warrior (formerly 'Sir William Hardy) was acquired by Greenpeace in 1977 and refitted in London. (See also here and here)

DJClayworth
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    is www.socialphy.com (or a book citing an unknown source) considered reliable evidence? – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 02:23
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    Not the most reliable source I've ever seen, but certainly more reliable than the original claim. – DJClayworth Mar 01 '13 at 03:17
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    "More reliable than the original [claimant]" is a low bar to be setting. – Andrew Grimm Mar 01 '13 at 11:34
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    True, original claim isn't reliable. OTOH, what I'd considered really reliable concerning the ship, would be some kind of official ship registry, which would mention where it was build and where it was refitted. – vartec Mar 01 '13 at 11:37
  • The [wikipedia article on the ship](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Warrior_%281955%29) points to http://www.greenpeace.org/international/about/ships/the-rainbow-warrior which leads to http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/ships/the-rainbow-warrior/rainbow-warrior-I/. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mar 01 '13 at 16:15
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    How is Greenpeace's own statements in any way reliable as evidence when they have every interest to lie about this? They didn't post any fincncial documents showing the exact budget and how repairs were paid for. – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 16:26
  • Well the first paragraph is merely your unsubstantiated opinion, but you should say so instead of assessing something you can't prove. "It's impossible". Not really. – Sklivvz Mar 02 '13 at 14:21
  • I said nothing about how the refit was paid for. I am addressing the claim was that it was done in Tallinn. – DJClayworth Mar 02 '13 at 18:32
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  1. USSR state recording company Melodia helped Greenpeace raise money via co-sponsoring a jointly release album (U2 et al).

    http://www.musicstack.com/item/206504892 / http://music70-80.narod.ru/katalog/sbor/greenpeace.htm

    While there's no explicit mention of KGB, given the timeline, and the way USSR worked, it was 100% impossible that KGB wasn't in full explicit approval.

    The album was heavily promoted (I remember that myself), and Soviet press was quoted in 1989: “Everyone who buys the album can consider himself a member of Greenpeace, which means it will soon have millions of new members here in the Soviet Union.”

    Quoting from Russian Wiki (all quotes from that are sourced from Greenpeace itself - " История Гринпис (рус.). Greanpease.org. Архивировано из первоисточника 3 февраля 2012. Проверено 13 мая 2011):

    В СССР Гринпис появился в 1989 году благодаря средствам от продажи альбома «Гринпис. Прорыв» (Greenpeace Breakthrough). В его записи участвовали U2, Eurythmics, R.E.M., INXS, Шаде, Брайан Ферри и другие рок-звезды.[8]

    Альбом во всём мире вышел тиражом около 10 миллионов экземпляров, очередь за пластинкой в Москве вошла в книгу рекордов Гиннесса. В течение первых часов с момента выхода пластинки было продано полмиллиона экземпляров. К 15 мая 1989 года общее количество проданных альбомов достигло миллиона.

  2. Again from Russian Wiki (same source):

    В июле 1989 года на пресс-конференции на борту корабля Гринпис «Воин радуги» Алексей Яблоков (в то время председатель комитета по охране окружающей среды СССР), официально объявил отделение Гринпис в СССР «первой независимой организацией в Советском Союзе»

    In July 1989, during press conference on board "Rainbow Warrior" shop, Alexej Yablokov (President of USSR State Committee for Preservation of the Environment) declared Greenpeace the "first independent organization in USSR".

    Again, given that it was 1989, this was fully State approved and like any interface with the foreigners, fully curated by KGB.

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user5341
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  • @DJClayworth - Intelligence reports produced by [Hilaire du Berrier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilaire_du_Berrier), former OSS agent and later journalist. I searched but the letters aren't available on the web as far as I'm aware of. – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 16:36
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    You also write "given that it was 1989, this was ... fully curated by KGB". 1989 was just one year before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the period of Glasnost and Perestroika. – DJClayworth Mar 01 '13 at 16:44
  • @DJClayworth - so? KGB wasn't exactly retired in 1989. All foreign contact were still only with their express OK (having had a foreign contact - as it happens, in 1989 - I can attest to that - though the contact was purely academic, and between schoolkids, and inside USSR). – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 16:49
  • @DJClayworth - First of all, if you didn't notice, you are arguing over a miniscule 3rd-in-importance portion of the answers. Second, H. du B. reports aren't John Birch. Guilt by association isn't basis of a proof that information is wrong. – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 17:00
  • @DJClayworth - I'll dig further on Pereira, but it'd help if his name wasn't John Smith :( – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 17:06
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    And the only source for the first two is your personal opinion. – DJClayworth Mar 01 '13 at 17:07
  • @DJClayworth - um... you mean Wikipedia article sourced from Greenpeace's own document, right? – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 17:13
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    "given the timeline, and the way USSR worked, it was 100% impossible that KGB wasn't in full explicit approval" I think this is the line that needs supporting the most. It may be true, but it isn't enough to say there was a conspiracy. You need some evidence. – Oddthinking Mar 01 '13 at 20:31
  • @Oddthinking - What exactly is the proof that would satisfy you? KGB was always involved in such things, it's not like there would have been some special document that KGB discussed this or that with this specific guy. It was routine. – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 20:56
  • @DVK: That's a good question; not sure I have a good answer for you. I am completely ignorant of the KGB's influence on the recording industry at the time. So far, all I have is your word for it. Have their been exposé documentaries or memoirs published in the past 20 years? – Oddthinking Mar 01 '13 at 21:51
  • @Oddthinking - It wasn't the fact that it was recording industry, it was the fact that it was involvment with foreigners. – user5341 Mar 01 '13 at 22:52
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    Seems to have weak sources... as the others have said. – Sklivvz Mar 02 '13 at 14:19
  • @Sklivvz - the source is **Greenpeace's own web site in Russian** admitting dealings with USSR government. – user5341 Mar 02 '13 at 14:46
  • Ah, but you also said that you didn't consider Greenpeace to be a reliable source :-) – DJClayworth Mar 02 '13 at 18:34
  • @DJClayworth - obviously Greenpeace is a lot more reliable source when it comes to facts that paint them in **negative** light (such as being sponsored by USSR) than to facts which paint them in positive light. Just like you would believe a confession from a man that he stole money in his memoirs, whereas you would be a lot more skeptical if he said he didn't (and is a suspect) - he has great motivation to lie in latter case and no great motivation to lie in the former. Neither one is guaranteed to be true, but the former is a lot likelier to be true. – user5341 Mar 02 '13 at 18:43
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    @DJClayworth See Oddthinking's comment [here](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/10618/did-lance-armstrong-use-epo#comment53396_14659) where he noted we regard Armstrong as more reliable when saying he took drugs than when he said he didn't. – Andrew Grimm Mar 04 '13 at 06:26