Operation Red Circus was an American CIA "Black Ops" operation that targeted Soviet major Vadim Rudnik, the ringleader of the "Perseus" spy ring's sleeper cells in Western Europe. Two CIA operatives were inserted into the Soviet Union's Uzbek SSR, where they assaulted a Soviet base and assassinated Rudnik; at the same time, the CIA wiped out his sleeper agents in Europe, preventing them from influencing European politics any longer.
History[]
In 1981, East Berlin-based Russian Mafia boss and "Perseus" spy ring agent Anton Volkov discovered an American-made nuclear bomb hidden underneath Berlin, revealing the existence of "Operation Greenlight" - an American contingency plan to destroy Europe's capitals should they fall to the Reds - to Soviet spymaster Perseus. Perseus planned to reverse-engineer the stolen bomb to obtain its launch codes, and he would then be able to unlock the entire Greenlight arsenal, destroy Europe's capital cities with American bombs, frame America for the mass destruction, turn European public opinion against the USA, and utilize the ensuing political chaos to have communist sleeper cells in Western Europe seize power and steer Europe towards the USSR. Major Vadim Rudnik served as handler for three strategically positioned agents who ran a cell of Soviet agents embedded within multiple European governments.
From February to March 1981, the American CIA gathered intelligence on the members of Rudnik's sleeper cell, identifying the three lead agents and thus enabling them to take all of the embedded agents down. With this done, the CIA decided to launch an operation to assassinate Rudnik at a remote Soviet base in the mountains of Uzbekistan. CIA operatives Alex Mason and Frank Woods were inserted into the Uzbek SSR on 12 March 1981, and an American airstrike took out the Soviet base's radio tower, giving the Americans ample time to storm the base and clear its buildings of Soviet Army personnel. Rudnik was cornered in the last building, and Mason killed Rudnik and his bodyguard and photographed the dead spymaster to verify his fate. The Americans sent in a chopper to evacuate the Americans, and Mason threw a smoke grenade to mark the extraction point. Mason and Woods held their position and fought off waves of Soviet soldiers, using an electronic marking device to guide air support fire on the Soviets. After dozens more Soviets were killed, the two CIA operatives exfiltrated on the evacuation chopper. The elimination of Rudnik and his cell proved a significant blow to Perseus' European network.