According to indirect reports, some foreign consulates began reopening in Kharkiv as early as the beginning of the 1920s (the first wave of diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union took place in the summer of 1923).

We can judge this, in particular, from Vladimir Orlov’s memoir, *The Double Agent*, published in London in 1932.

During the Civil War, he was a White Army intelligence agent embedded in the Cheka. From his memoirs, we can learn a wealth of amusing stories, including some set in Kharkiv in the early 1920s.

Trillisser (one of the leaders of the GPU) ordered his agents to steal the cipher used by the Persian consulate in Kharkiv. It was a Herculean task, since none of the Kharkiv Chekists spoke Persian. So they decided to take all the documents written in Persian. One of the Chekists infiltrated the consulate posing as an electrician. The consul himself was away; only his wife was at home. The Chekist surveyed the room, memorized where the desk was located, and left. They planned to carry out the heist that very night. Such operations were prepared in such strict secrecy that Chekists not involved in them knew nothing about them. A high-ranking GPU official lived one floor below the consul. He knew nothing about the upcoming operation. When the Chekists pounded on the door of the consul’s apartment that night, the women inside were so frightened that they began pounding on the floor to signal to the official living below that they needed help. Hearing the distress signal, the noble knight rushed upstairs and charged at the supposed robbers, failing to recognize his own comrades. He defended the consulate so well that after a few shots, the “robbers” were forced to flee. Their leader, Chekist Birko, was waiting downstairs. Upon learning what had happened, he ripped off his fake beard and unleashed a torrent of curses at the uninvited defender of the consulate. The next day, reports appeared in the press about a “failed attempt to rob the Persian consulate” and that all the perpetrators had been arrested.