The Inner Line (Russian: Внутренняя Линия) was a secret intelligence organization started in the 1920s within the Russian emigre community living in Europe and controlled from within by the Soviet OGPU intelligence agency. Attracting officers and members of Russian White emigre organizations, it claimed to serve the purpose of "controlling" the direction of all emigre organizations in order to ensure unity in the struggle against communism.
The organization's control by the OGPU was strongly suspected by members of the Russian patriotic organization NTS. In the year 1930 in Paris, General Alexander Kutepov, the head of the Russian All-Military Union where the Inner Line had a firm root, was secretly warned by members of NTS about the Inner Line. Kutepov brushed off their warnings, and was shortly kidnapped. General Nikolai Skoblin, an Inner Line member, was suspected of being an accomplice in his kidnapping.
Seven years later, Kutepov's successor, General Evgenii Miller, also failed to heed NTS's warnings and was also kidnapped. Miller, however, wisely left a note before his disappearance indicating that Skoblin may be setting him up for a trap. When confronted with Miller's note by his fellow officers, Skoblin managed to escape and was never again seen.
After Miller's kidnapping, the Inner Line threat was widely recognized and publicised within the Russian community. However, this did not entirely disrupt the existence or operation of the organization.
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