Red Mata Hari: Why do the archives of the intelligence services about a friend of Maxim Gorky and Hg wells kept secret until now

She wasn’t beautiful, but men were crazy about her. Maria Zakrevskaya skillfully hid some facts of her past and shrouded in the fog of mystery of the present. She was in a close relationship with Maxim Gorky and Herbert wells, deftly out of any scrapes, was able to survive in the revolutionary grinder. Documents on the activities of Maria Zakrevskaya-Benkendorf-Budberg are still kept in the archives of Russian and British intelligence under the heading “Secret”.

Mystery of birth

In the 1920-ies, it seemed that this woman was known to many. It was said that she was the heir of Agrafena Zakrevskaya, Countess and recognized beauty, who inspired Pushkin, Vyazemsky and Baratynsky. Continue reading →