“Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia may have more in common than an interest in Middle East peace talks. According to a newly discovered Soviet document, Mr. Abbas may have once worked for the K.G.B., too. The possibility, trumpeted by the Israeli media on Wednesday night and just as quickly dismissed by Palestinian officials, emerged from a document in a British archive listing Soviet agents from 1983. A reference to Mr. Abbas is tantalizing but cryptic, just two lines identifying him by the code name ‘Mole.’ At the end of his entry are two words: ‘K.G.B. agent.’”
Source: Soviet Document Suggests Mahmoud Abbas Was a K.G.B. Spy in the 1980s – The New York Times