Paul Dukes was sent into Russia in 1918, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution. His role was to keep the British spy networks in place during the Red Terror, when the Cheka secret police were killing large numbers of opponents of the communist regime.

Dukes operated under a variety of covers, the most daring of which was as a member of the Cheka. On his return, the government publicised his role to prove their case against the Bolsheviks, knighting him publicly and awarding him the Victoria Cross. His memoirs of his time in Russia, published in 1922 as Red Dusk and the Morrow: Adventures and Investigations in Soviet Russia remain a true classic of espionage.