Informator [Informer]

An NKGB foreign intelligence cover name appearing in the notes on KGB foreign intelligence files taken in the mid-1990s by the former KGB officer and journalist Alexander Vassiliev. Identified as Bruce Minton, which was a CPUSA penname of a writer Richard Bransten – the heir of coffee magnate M.J. Brandenstein, who was writing under the name of Bruce Minton for the leftist New Masses magazine until he was ousted from the Communist Party in 1946. In Russian, the word “informator” has two meanings: 1) an individual who informs on something, passes some information – translated into English as “informer”, “communicant”, “relator”, etc. depending on the context; 2) police secret information source [osvedomitel’] – translated into English as Confidential Informant. In case of Richard Bransten, the translation “Informer” looks more proper.