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    Posted

    I am the Belomorkanal cigarettes.

    Belormokanal (Беломорканал) is a brand of cigarettes made by the Uritsky Tobacco Factory in 1932 at Leningrad. The brand was introduced to commemorate the construction of the White Sea - Baltic Canal (abbr. Belomorkanal, and also called BBK). Process engineer Ionidi is considered to be its creator, and the pack drawing was made by Andrey Tarakanov.

    The brand became popular in most of the Soviet Bloc countries due to their low price. They are famed as one of the strongest (if not the strongest in the world) cigarettes available in Eastern Europe. They were also pictured in many works of art and literature.

    The White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal (Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal (BBK)), opened on August 2, 1933, is a ship canal that joins the White Sea and the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg. Its original name was Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal imeni Stalina (The Stalin White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal), and it is known under the abbreviation Belomorkanal. During its construction, an estimated 100,000 Gulag prisoners died (although various estimates have placed the figure at both significantly higher and lower casualties).

    Ch.

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    Posted

    Point to Christophe!

    A memory of the canal is also preserved in the Russian language, in the words "zeka", "zek, z/k" for "inmate". In Russian, "inmate", "incarcerated" isзаключённый (zakliuchyonnyi), usually abbreviated to з/к in paperwork, and pronounced as зэка ("zeh-KA"), which gradually transformed into зэк andзек ("zek"). The word is still in colloquial use. Originally the abbreviation stood for zaklyuchyonny kanaloarmeyets (заключённый каналоармеец), literally "incarcerated canal-army-man". (from Wikipedia)

    Posted

    Scoreboard update!

    24 points - JimZ

    16 points - Harvey

    12 points - UB6365

    12 points - Christophe

    11 points - Hauptmann

    8 points - Gunner 1

    3 points - Valter

    2 points - kapten_windu

    1 point - Tachel

    Question 89 goes to Christophe

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Point to Christophe!

    A memory of the canal is also preserved in the Russian language, in the words "zeka", "zek, z/k" for "inmate". In Russian, "inmate", "incarcerated" isзаключённый (zakliuchyonnyi), usually abbreviated to з/к in paperwork, and pronounced as зэка ("zeh-KA"), which gradually transformed into зэк andзек ("zek"). The word is still in colloquial use. Originally the abbreviation stood for zaklyuchyonny kanaloarmeyets (заключённый каналоармеец), literally "incarcerated canal-army-man". (from Wikipedia)

    Thanks, UB, for the opportunity to answer this question, and new learnings today !! :))) This is one of the essences of the quiz and I like it !! :)

    I would have liked to taste one of these Belormokanal cigarettes (I'm not a smoker, but from time to time, I enjoy a good cigar... from Havana :)) )

    Cheers.

    Ch.

    Posted

    So...

    Question # 89 :

    Who am I ?

    Born in the 30's, I have always been at ease with high technology, and specifically electronics.

    I lived on several occasions in the Western World.

    I have betrayed a lot of people and stabbed a few.

    Unfortunately for me, I said farewell earlier than expected.

    Who am I ?

    Good hunt and good luck !! :whistle:

    Ch.

    Posted

    Hi UB,

    Excellent !! You win !! :)

    For details on the hints, please see bold parts of the text (from Wikipedia) :

    Vladimir Ippolitovich Vetrov (Владимир Ипполитович Ветров) (10 October 1932 - 23 January 1985) was a high-ranking KGB spy during the Cold War, who decided to covertly release to France and NATO extremely valuable information on the Soviet Union's clandestine spy program aimed at obtaining technology from the West..

    Vetrov was assigned the code-name Farewell by the French intelligence service DST, which recruited him. He was known by that name throughout NATO's intelligence services. His history inspired the book Bonjour Farewell: La Vérité sur la Taupe Française du KGB (1997) by Sergei Kostin. It was loosely adapted for the French film L'affaire Farewell (2009).

    Authors Sergei Kostin and Eric Raynaud have published a more complete and updated account of the Farewell dossier under the title Adieu Farewell (Laffont, Paris, 2009). This title is now available in English for the first time, thirty years after the events (Farewell, AmazonCrossing, Aug. 2011). Another portrait of Vladimir Vetrov can be found in a powerful literary text by Michel Louyot, Le Violon de neige.

    Vladimir Vetrov was born in 1932 and grew up within the Soviet system. After college, where he studied engineering, he was enlisted in the KGB.

    He lived in France for five years, beginning in 1965 when posted there as a Line X officer working for the KGB's 'Directorate T', which specialized in obtaining advanced information about science and technology from western countries. While there he befriended Jacques Prévost, an engineer working with Thomson-CSF. Vetrov returned to Moscow at the end of his posting.

    There, he rose through the ranks of Directorate T, eventually supervising the evaluation of the intelligence collected by Line X agents around the world, and passing key information to the relevant users inside the Soviet Union. Having become increasingly disillusioned with the communist system, he decided to defect for purely ideological reasons (he never accepted payment for his material). At the end of 1980, he contacted the French businessman and volunteered his services to the West.

    Between the spring of 1981 and early 1982, Vetrov gave the DST almost 4,000 secret documents, including the complete official list of 250 Line X officers stationed under legal cover in embassies around the world. Included was a breakdown of the Soviet effort to collect scientific, industrial and technical information from the west to improve its own efforts. Members of the GRU, the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and several other bodies all took part in such efforts. Vetrov also provided summaries on the goals, achievements, and unfilled objectives of the program. He identified nearly 100 leads to sources in 16 countries.

    In February 1982, after heavy drinking caused by a cooling-off period imposed by the French, who were fearful of his discovery through too much contact, Vetrov stabbed his mistress during an argument in his car (she survived). When a man knocked on the car window, Vetrov thought his spying had been discovered, so he stabbed and killed the man. He happened to be another KGB officer. Vetrov was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 12 years in jail in the fall of 1982.

    While in jail, Vetrov carelessly revealed in letters that he had been involved in "something big" before going to jail. The KGB eventually discovered that he was a double agent. As part of his confession, Vetrov wrote a blistering denunciation of the Soviet system, "The Confession of a Traitor". News of his subsequent execution reached France in March 1985.

    The information which Vetrov provided enabled the western countries to expel nearly 150 Soviet technology spies around the world; the French expelled 47 Soviet spies, most of whom were from Line X. This caused the collapse of the Soviet's information program at a time when it was particularly crucial. The US created a massive operation to provide the Soviets with faulty data and sabotaged parts for certain technologies, as a consequence to the Farewell Dossier.

    Your turn, now !! :beer:

    Ch.

    Posted

    Scoreboard update!

    The battle for third place goes on.....

    24 points - JimZ

    16 points - Harvey

    13 points - UB6365

    12 points - Christophe

    11 points - Hauptmann

    8 points - Gunner 1

    3 points - Valter

    2 points - kapten_windu

    1 point - Tachel

    Question 90 next....UB.....when you please!

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Question #90.

    From 1926 to 1990 I was a symbol of Soviet science and knowledge, I followed party line in all time. Putin gave me second chance.

    I am great, but not as my British colleague. I had 14 younger sisters, all of them speaking different languages. Tell me why?

    Posted

    I am the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая советская энциклопедия, or БСЭ; Bolshaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya) is one of the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedias in Russian and in the world, Issued by the Soviet State from 1926 to 1990, and again since 2002 (under the name Bolshaya Rossiyskaya entsiklopediya or Greatn Russian Encyclopedia.).

    The 14 younger sisters were published in the languague of each of the non-Russian Republics of USSR (Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Uzbek...)...

    Ch.

    Posted

    Thanks UB,

    I think it is now my turn for question #91, an easy, easy one... :)

    Question #91

    Who am I ?

    While being a journalist, I liked alcohol, rings and rainbows.

    I fought against NATO, while living in Washington, London, and indeed... Moscow.

    Who am I ?

    Good hunt and good luck !! :whistle:

    Ch.

    Posted

    Scoreboard update!

    24 points - JimZ

    16 points - Harvey

    13 points - UB6365

    13 points - Christophe

    11 points - Hauptmann

    8 points - Gunner 1

    3 points - Valter

    2 points - kapten_windu

    1 point - Tachel

    Question 91 above!

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Hi Hauptmann,

    You're right !! Congrats, you are the winner !! :)

    Your turn, now...

    To UB : You were really very close, but Guy Burgess was our man ! :)

    Ch.

    Posted

    Scoreboard update!

    The fight for third place goes on......UB and Christophe are duelling whilst leaving Hauptmann in third place and hurtling towards Harvey. :jumping: Keep it coming boys!

    24 points - JimZ

    16 points - Harvey

    14 points - UB6365

    13 points - Christophe

    11 points - Hauptmann

    8 points - Gunner 1

    3 points - Valter

    2 points - kapten_windu

    1 point - Tachel

    Question 92 to follow! :jumping: :jumping: :jumping:

    Jim :cheers:

    Posted

    Yes, Jim... UB is unfortunately for him correct :( : Hauptmann gave the expected answer. UB was very close... :)

    The score must be the following :

    24 points - JimZ

    16 points - Harvey

    13 points - UB6365

    13 points - Christophe

    12 points - Hauptmann

    ...

    Hauptmann, your turn for the next one !! :)))

    Cheers.

    Ch.

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