Is there evidence people outside USSR were involved in attacks, within Soviet borders, between c.1928 and Stalin's death in 1953?

Question

As is well known, the Soviet system under Stalin confected countless false reports of sabotage, insurrection, and things of a like kind. It also committed innumerable acts of oppression and violence against the people of the Soviet Union.

However, there were some genuine attacks against the Soviet state, which were not just fabrications or false-flag operations. Is there any evidence these were helped by foreign-based organisations, such as the 4th international, or foreign powers?

In the words of the undervalued author Melvin Burgess, torture reduces the best of us to so much mindless gobshite. For this reason, confessions by people Stalin blamed don't count as evidence. Evidence emanating from outside the Soviet Union (letters planning attacks, etc) would count.

I am excluding Axis powers during world war 2, as imho this was an inevitable part of the war, not a separate phenomenon. I chose the year 1928 because I don't want to get tangled up with long tail of the Russian Civil War.

I'm interested to know if Stalin's accusations against the Mensheviks, Trotskyists, Bukharinites and so on had any foundation. As well as the assassination attempts I posted above, there were the partisans after world 2, the Basmachi rebels opposed to collectivisation, and so on.

There were, in short, a lot of people who had good cause to hate the Soviet rulers in this period. It would be interesting to know if there were any crumbs of truth in the ravings and outpourings of the Soviet propaganda machine.

Answer 1

Nazis

Yes, of course - during WW2 German intelligence (Abwehr and SD) conducted sabotage operations against the USSR. They were largely unsuccessful, in part due to general ineptitude of Abwehr, but mostly due to the overwhelming power of the Soviet security apparatus.

One such operation was sending Russian adolescent boys across the front lines with explosives shaped as coal lumps with the task of adding them to the piles of coal for use by railroad steam engines. Most of the kids surrendered right away, the few who did not did little damage. There are plenty of references in Russian that allege that this was managed by the Abwehr Group 209 "Bussard", commanded by Hauptmann Friedrich Bolz (Абвергруппа 209 «Буссард», капи­тан Фридрих Больц).

Others

Highly unlikely. Hard to prove a negative, but given the aforementioned overwhelming power of the Soviet security apparatus, probability of success was so low that any attempt was a waste of time.

I am not sure this will be excluded by the next question edit, but what support the West gave to the Anti-Soviet partisans was trivial and quickly compromised by the Soviet authorities.

The West did provide (mostly moral) support to Soviet dissidents, but those were decidedly non-violent. But this is straying from the question too far.

Answer 2

Ukrainian nationalists formed the OUN, which worked from exile after WWII (mostly Germany but also the US). Soviet authorities alleged that the OUN supported or controlled anti-soviet partisans in the Ukraine in the immediate aftermath of WWII, this partisan activity ended in the early 1950ties.

To cite German wikipedia on OUN:

Etwa 40.000 UPA-Angehörige ließen sich im Gebiet der Karpatenukraine von der Roten Armee überrollen und begannen nach 1945 in der Westukraine einen blutigen Guerillakrieg, dem nach Einschätzung der CIA bis 1951 etwa 35.000 Menschen zum Opfer fielen. Die terroristischen Operationen richteten sich nicht nur gegen Polizeikräfte und kommunistische Parteifunktionäre, sondern auch gegen die Zivilbevölkerung, darunter vor allem die überlebenden Juden. Der Guerillakrieg wurde ab 1949 von der CIA unterstützt, die bis 1953 etwa 75 Exilukrainer per Fallschirm in der Ukraine absetzte; auch der britische SIS beteiligte sich im Jahre 1951 an diesen Aktionen. Die Sowjetunion legte 1957 vor der UNO gegen diese Operationen formell Protest ein.

My translation: Around 40.000 members let the red army pass in the Caraptes and started a bloody guerilla war after 1945. Around 35.000 people died, according to CIA estimates. The terror acts not only targeted police and communist party cadres, but also civilians, especially surviving Jews. After 1949, the guerilla war was supported by the CIA, until 1953 around 75 exiled Ukrainians had been dropped with parachutes into Ukraine. The british SIS also supported these operations, starting in 1951. The soviet union raised a complaint before the UNO in 1957.

No online sources are given, the offline sources are:
Christopher Simpson: „Blowback“ (Collier Books, New York 1989, S. 163)
John Loftus: „The Belarus Secret“ (Knopf, New York 1982, S. 102/103)
„Nature and Extent of Disaffection and Anti-Soviet Activity in the Ukraine“ (Bericht des US-Militärattachés der US-Botschaft in Moskau, 17. März 1948) zitiert in: Christopher Simpson: „Blowback“ (Collier Books, New York 1989, S. 171)
United Nations: „Official Records of the General Assembly“ (11th Session [November 12, 1956 – March 8, 1957], Annexes Volume II – Agenda Item 70, S. 1–14)

I did not check if the sources say what the wikipedia article claims they do and what the quality of the sources is. I still would answer your question with yes, the CIA and SIS where involved in attacks within the soviet union and there's some evidence.

There's also the allegation (By the soviet union) that Stepan Bandera and other heads of the OUN in exile ordered the assassination of Dr. Gabriel Kostelnik, who was in favor of a unification between the russion orthodox and the ukrainian catholic church.

Answer 3

The Soviet-Japanese Border Conflicts took place between 1932 and 1939 across Manchukuo, Mongolia, and the Soviet Union.

In particular, the following offensive actions took place within the Soviet Union:

• The Kanchazu Island Incident, 1937
• Battle of Lake Khashan, 1938

Kantokuen, while cancelled, had the objective of occupying parts of Eastern USSR. The Soviets were anticipating such an attack and maintained defenses against the possibility.