- Indonesia
Misteri Hilangnya Penyelam Legendaris Inggris
Tahun lalu, Perdana Menteri Inggris Theresa May menelepon Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin. Kedua pemimpin negara itu sama-sama tak puas dengan hubungan Inggris-Rusia satu dekade belakangan dan berkomitmen untuk memperbaikinya.
Buruknya hubungan kedua negara dipicu oleh penyelidikan Inggris terhadap kematian mantan agen Rusia Alexander Litvinenko yang kemudian menjadi warga negara Inggris. Pengkritik keras Kremlin itu tewas setelah bertemu seorang mantan agen KGB di London, Andrei Lugovoi, pada 2006. Inggris menuduh pembunuhan itu mendapat restu Putin.
Upaya normalisasi hubungan oleh May dan Putin dilakukan dengan membuat sebuah kerjasama dalam pengamanan penerbangan. Upaya normalisasi hubungan itu seakan mengulang upaya serupa yang dilakukan PM Sir Anthony Eden dan Pemimpin Uni Soviet Nikita Khruschev-PM Nikolai Bulganin pada 1956. Namun, upaya pada 1956 kemudian justru menimbulkan kekacauan yang tak hanya mempengaruhi hubungan kedua negara tapi juga menyisakan satu misteri yang hingga kini belum terpecahkan.
Muhibah Khrushchev-Bulganin
Keramaian memenuhi areal sekitar Pelabuhan Portsmouth, Inggris. Anak-anak hingga orang tua sampai mengular di pinggir jalan masuk. Mereka menanti kedatangan kapal penjelajah canggih Soviet Ordzhonikidze beserta dua kapal destroyer yang mengawalnya. Kapal penjelajah kelas Sverdlov itu –pada 1962 dijual kepada Indonesia dan berganti nama menjadi KRI Irian– teknologinya membuat Royal Navy penasaran sejak melihat kali pertama pada 1953.
Di kapal Ordzhonikidze itulah tamu negara asal Soviet Khrushchev dan PM Bulganin berada. Kedua petinggi Soviet itu mengunjungi Inggris dalam rangka memperbaiki hubungan kedua negara yang buruk sejak Perang Dunia II berakhir..
Saat Khrushchev naik ke tampuk kekuasaan, perubahan terjadi di Soviet. Pandangannya bahwa doktrin Stalin, “perang tak dapat dielakkan”, sudah tak sesuai perkembangan zaman dan bisa memusnahkan peradaban membuatnya gencar mengkampanyekan “de-Stalinisasi”. Langkah itu mendapat dukungan kuat dari Bulganin.
Dalam politik luar negeri, sejalan dengan kampanye de-Stalinisasi, Khrushchev menawarkan pendekatan baru saat menghadiri kongres Partai Komunis ke-20, Februari 1956: koeksistensi damai Timur dan Barat. Untuk itulah dia dan Bulganin sejak April melakukan kunjungan ke berbagai negara, kemudian dikenal dengan B & K Show, dengan Inggris menjadi yang kunjungan terpentingnya.
“Kunjungan Khrushchev dan Bulganin ke Inggris merupakan upaya awal pimpinan Soviet untuk mendapatkan pengakuan dan penerimaan di Barat,” tulis Sergey Radchenko dalam “Love Us As We Are: Khruschev’s 1956 Charm Offensive in the UK”, dimuat wilsoncenter.org.
Bagi tuan rumah, kunjungan pemimpin Soviet itu amat penting karena menyangkut politik-ekonomi. PM Eden menyiapkan segalanya dengan serius, termasuk melarang tindakan mata-mata selama rombongan Soviet tiba.
Rombongan pemimpin Soviet itu akhirnya tiba di Pelabuhan Portsmouth pada 18 April. Mereka membahas berbagai isu global yang tengah hangat dengan isu Timur Tengah menjadi dialog paling jujur dan alot. Eden blak-blakan menyampaikan keprihatinannya terhadap sikap Soviet yang mendukung gerakan kemerdekaan bangsa-bangsa Arab. Negara-negara Blok Timur pimpinan Soviet bahkan terang-terangan menjual persenjataan kepada Mesir. Selaku pemegang kekuasaan tanah Arab (de facto) sejak Perang Dunia I, Inggris menganggap hal itu memperburuk keadaan dan meminta Khruschev menghentikan tindakan tersebut.
Soviet menolak. Menuruti saran Inggris hanya akan memunculkan tafsiran Soviet pro Israel di kalangan bangsa-bangsa Arab.
Misteri Crabb
Selagi para petinggi kedua negara serius membahas berbagai isu, personil AL Soviet yang berada di kapal mendapati kejanggalan di dekat kapal mereka. Seorang penyelam muncul ke permukaan di antara dua kapal destroyer Soviet. Dia kemudian menyelam kembali, berusaha mendekati Ordzhonikidze.
Kabar adanya penyelam asing itu sampai ke telinga komandan armada Soviet Laksamana VF Kotov. Dia lalu di kemudian hari menunjukkan kejadian itu kepada koran Pravda– meneruskannya kepada komandan pangkalan Pelabuhan Portsmouth Laksamana Philip W Burnett. Burnett langsung meminta maaf.
Saat rombongan Soviet pulang 10 hari kemudian, berita mengenai hilangnya penyelam legendaris Inggris Lionel Crabb muncul di sebuah koran. Sekira sebulan kemudian, petugas menemukan mayat seorang penyelam tanpa kepala dan tangan di perairan dekat tempat Ordzhonikidzei berlabuh. Para jurnalis memadukan dua fakta itu, hasilnya berita bahwa Crabb tewas saat dia berusaha melakukan penyelaman memata-matai kapal Soviet dan memasang ranjau di lambungnya. Bak bola salju, berita hilangnya Crabb terus menggelinding cepat dan menjadi headlines di berbagai koran.
Publik Inggris geger. Pada 29 April, Admiralty (Departemen Angkatan Laut Inggris) mengeluarkan pernyataan resmi bahwa Crabb hilang dan kemungkinan tewas dalam penyelaman di Portsmouth. Publik Inggris menuntut pemerintahan Eden memberi kepastian keberadaan Crabb.
Pemerintah Soviet berang. Nota protes langsung dikirimkan kepada Kemlu Inggris. Soviet meminta penjelasan peristiwa itu karena apa yang disampaikan berbagai media berbeda dari pernyataan Burnett saat meminta maaf. “Lima hari kemudian PM Eden mengirimkan jawaban singkat yang mengakui Crabb telah melakukan ‘tes katak’ sebagaimana yang terlihat. Dia mengakhiri dengan, ‘Pemerintah Yang Mulia menyesal atas insiden ini’,” tulis Majalah Life, 28 Mei 1956.
Di depan parlemen, Eden marah. Permintaan berulangkali parlemen untuk mencari Crabb selalu ditolaknya. Akibatnya, beragam teori tentang keberadaan Crabb pun bermunculan. Selain versi Admiralty, berita-berita tentang Crabb antara lain mengatakan bahwa veteran PD II itu tertangkap awak kapal Soviet dan kemudian dipaksa bekerja sebagai pelatih selam AL Soviet. Ada juga yang mengatakan Crabb sengaja membelot ke Soviet. Semua tanpa kepastian bukti.
Pada 1990-an, jurnalis Israel Yigal Serna mengungkapkan versi baru kematian Crabb setelah bertemu Joseph Zverkin, mantan intel AL Soviet yang pada 1950-an bertugas di Inggris, yang menjadi imigran di Haifa. Menurutnya, saat Crabb berenang di samping kapal, penjaga kapal melihatnya. Dua penyelam AL Soviet bersenjatakan senapan sniper kaliber kecil langsung terjun untuk memeriksa perairan itu. Salah seorang penyelam, berpangkat letnan, langsung menembak kepala Crabb sehingga tewas saat itu juga.
Namun, pada 2007 Eduard Koltsov menyanggah semua pemberitaan tentang kematian Crabb. Mantan penyelam AL Soviet berusia 85 tahun itu mengaku dialah yang mengetahui aktivitas mencurigakan penyelam asing dekat kapal Ordzhonikidze. Setelah mendapat perintah untuk menyelidiki, Koltsov langsung menyelam.
“Saya berenang lebih dekat dan melihat dia sedang memasang ranjau,” ujarnya, sebagaimana dimuat telegraph.co.uk. Duel bawah air lalu terjadi dan Koltsov berhasil memotong tenggorokan Crabb dengan pisau komandonya.
Publik tetap banyak tak percaya pada pernyataan Koltsov. Don Hale, penulis buku The Final Dive, mengatakan, memasang ranjau di kapal Soviet dalam era Perang Dingin itu sama saja memulai Perang Dunia III.
Ketidakmauan pemerintah Inggris membuka arsip tahun 1956 membuat misteri hilangnya Crabb tetap gelap. Banyaknya versi kematian Crabb sama sekali tak menjawab masalah. Versi-versi itu hanya menguntungkan Ian Fleming yang mendapatkan inspirasi untuk membuat “Thunderball” dalam serial James Bond-nya.
- English
The Mystery of the Missing Legendary British Diver
The loss of the British veteran divers near the Soviet warship became the greatest intelligence mystery of the Cold War. Inspires Ian Fleming to work on Thunderball in his James Bond series.
Years ago, British Prime Minister Theresa May summoned Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders are equally dissatisfied with the decade-long and decades-old British-Russian relationship committed to improving it.
The bad relations between the two countries was triggered by a British inquiry into the former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko who later became a British citizen. The Kremlin's harsh critics died after meeting a former KGB agent in London, Andrei Lugovoi, in 2006. Britain accused the killings of Putin's blessing.
Efforts to connect with aviation security. Efforts to normalize the relationship seemed to repeat efforts made by Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev-PM Nikolai Bulganin in 1956. However, efforts in 1956 then precisely impacted not only the relationship between the two countries but also leaving a mystery that until now unsolved
Muhibah Khrushchev-Bulganin
Full crowded area of Portsmouth Harbor, England. Children up to parents to snake at the edges of the driveway. They were waiting for Soviet Soviet Ordzhonikidze cruisers to prevent two destroyers escorting him. The Sverdlov-class explorers-in 1962 were sold to Indonesia and renamed to KRI Irian-the technology made the Royal Navy curious since its first sight in 1953.
On the Ordzhonikidze ship were guests of the Soviet country of Khrushchev and PM Bulganin. The two Soviet top brass visited Britain in order to improve the relationship between the two nations since the end of World War II.
As Khrushchev rose to power, changes took place in the Soviets. His view that the Stalinist doctrine, "war inevitably", was out of date and could destroy civilization made it a campaign of "de-Stalinization". The move has strong support from Bulganin.
In foreign politics, in line with de-Stalinization campaign, Khrushchev offered a new approach while attending the 20th congress of the Communist Party, February 1956: the peaceful coexistence of East and West. That's why he and Bulganin since April made visits to various countries, then known as the B & K Show, with England being the most important visit.
"Khrushchev and Bulganin's visit to Britain was an early attempt by the Soviet leadership to gain recognition and acceptance in the West," writes Sergey Radchenko in "Love Us As We Are: Khruschev's 1956 Charm Offensive in the UK", published by wilsoncenter.org.
For the host, the visit of the Soviet leader is very important because it involves political-economy. Prime Minister Eden prepares everything seriously, including banning spying during Soviet troops arriving.
The group of Soviet leaders finally arrived at Portsmouth Harbor on April 18. They discussed a variety of global issues that are warming up with the Middle East issue to be the most honest and tough dialogue. Eden bluntly expressed her concern for the Soviet attitude that supported the Arab independence movement. The Soviet-led Eastern Bloc countries even openly sold weapons to Egypt. As the holder of the Arab (de facto) land power since World War I, Britain considers it to aggravate the situation and ask Khruschev to stop the act.
The Soviets refused. To comply with British advice would only lead to a pro-Israeli Soviet interpretation among the Arab nations.
Mystery of Crabb
While the officials of both countries were seriously discussing various issues, Soviet Navy personnel on board found irregularities near their ships. A diver surfaced between two Soviet destroyer ships. He then dives back, trying to approach Ordzhonikidze.
The news of the foreign divers came to the ears of the Soviet fleet commander Admiral VF Kotov. He then - later showed the incident to the Pravda newspaper - forwarded it to Portsmouth Port base commander Admiral Philip W Burnett. Burnett apologized immediately.
When the Soviet troops came home 10 days later, news of the loss of the legendary British diver Lionel Crabb appeared in a newspaper. About a month later, officers found the body of a headless diver and hand in the waters near where Ordzhonikidzei anchored. The journalists combine the two facts, the result of news that Crabb was killed as he tried to dive in spying on Soviet ships and installing a mine in his stomach. Tub snowball, news of Crabb's disappearance continues to roll quickly and become headlines in various newspapers.
The British public is fascinated. On April 29, Admiralty (British Naval Department) issued an official statement that Crabb was missing and possibly killed in a dive in Portsmouth. The British public demanded that Eden's government give certainty to Crabb's existence.
The Soviet government was furious. A protest note was sent directly to the British Foreign Ministry. The Soviets asked for an explanation of the event because what the various media presented differed from Burnett's statement when apologizing. "Five days later the prime minister sent a short answer which admitted Crabb had done the 'frog test' as seen. He concluded with, 'Your Majesty's Government regrets this incident', "wrote Life Magazine, May 28, 1956.
In front of parliament, Eden was angry. Repeated requests by parliament to search for Crabb are always rejected. As a result, various theories about Crabb's existence emerged. In addition to the version of Admiralty, news about Crabb, among others, said that the veteran of World War II was captured by the crew of the Soviet and then forced to work as a Soviet Navy submarine trainer. Some say Crabb deliberately defected to the Soviets. All without certainty of evidence.
In the 1990s, Israeli journalist Yigal Serna revealed a new version of Crabb's death after meeting Joseph Zverkin, a former Soviet naval intelligence officer who, in the 1950s, served in England, who became an immigrant in Haifa. According to him, when Crabb was swimming beside the ship, the boatman saw him. Two Soviet Navy divers armed with small-caliber sniper rifles immediately jumped to examine the waters. One of the divers, with the rank of lieutenant, immediately shot Crabb's head and died instantly.
However, in 2007 Eduard Koltsov denied all news about the death of Crabb. The former 85-year-old former Soviet Vetter claims he is the one who knows the suspicious activity of a foreign diver near the Ordzhonikidze ship. After getting an order to investigate, Koltsov immediately dived.
"I swam closer and saw he was putting up a mine," he said, as telegraph.co.uk reported. An underwater duel took place and Koltsov managed to cut Crabb's throat with his command knife.
The public remained a lot of disbelief at Koltsov's statement. Don Hale, author of The Final Dive, said putting a mine on a Soviet ship in the Cold War era was the start of World War III.
The unwillingness of the British government to open the 1956 file made the mystery of Crabb's disappearance dark. The many versions of Crabb's death did not answer the problem at all. Those versions only benefit Ian Fleming who gets inspired to make "Thunderball" in his James Bond series.
Source:
Historia. 1028. Misteri Hilangnya Penyelam Legendaris Inggris. (Online). Diakses, 21 Januari 2018. (http://historia.id/mondial/misteri-hilangnya-penyelam-inggris).