Morris Cohen (Soviet spy)

Morris Cohen
Morris Cohen on Russian stamp
Allegiance	USSR
Active	1939–1961 (arrest)
Award(s)	Order of the Red Banner, Order of Friendship of Nations, Hero of the Russian Federation
Codename(s)	Peter Kroger
Born	(1910-07-02)July 2, 1910 New York City
Died	July 23, 1995(1995-07-23) (aged 85) Moscow
Nationality	American
Spouse	Lona Cohen
Alma mater	Columbia University

Morris Cohen, also known in Britain by his alias Peter Kroger, (July 2, 1910 – June 23, 1995) was an 20th-Century American convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union. His wife Lona was also an agent.

Morris Cohen was born in New York City. His father came from an area near Kiev in present-day Ukraine. His mother came from Vilnius in present-day Lithuania. Cohen received an athletic scholarship as an outstanding rugby union player to attend Columbia University.

In 1937, Cohen joined the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion and fought as a foreign national volunteer in the Spanish Civil War with compatriot Amadeo Sabatini, veteran and career Soviet spy. Cohen was injured and in November 1938 returned to the United States where he began serving Soviet foreign intelligence.

In mid-1942, Cohen was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Europe. He was demobilized from the Army in November 1945 and returned to the United States where he resumed his espionage work for the Soviet Union.

As Soviet spy networks were compromised in this period, connection with Soviet intelligence was temporarily ended, but resumed in 1948, when the Rezidentura ascertained that Cohen could be approached. Together with Lona Cohen, they ensured the continued secret connection with a number of the most valuable sources of the Rezidentura. They began working with Col. Rudolph Abel up to 1950, when they secretly left the United States and moved to the Soviet Union.

In 1954, the Cohens moved to 45 Cranley Drive in Ruislip, where they had numerous pieces of disguised spy equipment, and an antenna looping around their attic, used for their transmissions to Moscow. Their cover was as antiquarian book dealers under the names of Peter and Helen Kroger, and they worked with Gordon Lonsdale of Soviet intelligence. Morris became the British illegal resident.