The Moscow rules

For the Daniel Silva novel, see Moscow Rules (novel).

The Moscow rules are rules-of-thumb said to have been developed during the Cold War to be used by spies and others working in Moscow.

The rules are associated with Moscow because the city developed a reputation as being a particularly harsh locale for clandestine operatives who were exposed. The list may never have existed as written.^{[ citation needed ]}

The rules

Agent Tony Mendez wrote:

Although no one had written them down, they were the precepts we all understood for conducting operations in the most difficult of operating environments: the Soviet capital. By the time they got to Moscow, everyone knew these rules. They were dead simple and full of common sense. ^[1]

In the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., the Moscow Rules are given as: ^[2]

• Assume nothing.
• Never go against your gut.
• Everyone is potentially under opposition control.
• Do not look back; you are never completely alone.
• Go with the flow, blend in.
• Vary your pattern and stay within your cover.
• Lull them into a sense of complacency.
• Do not harass the opposition.
• Pick the time and place for action.
• Keep your options open.

References

1. Mendez, Antonio; Mendez, Jonna; Henderson, Bruce (2003). Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations that Helped Win the Cold War. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 36. ISBN   9780743434584.
2. "Moscow Rules". The Spy Museum. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2017.

Further reading

• Whidden. Glenn H. A Guidebook For Beginning Sweepers. Technical Services Agency