[3] Kuzakov alleged that his mother, Maria Kuzakova, had been Stalin's landlady and mistress during his 1911 exile in Solvychegodsk.

According to Kuzakov the NKVD forced him to sign a statement promising never to reveal the truth of his parentage in 1932.

In 1948, while working for Andrei Zhdanov, a very close ally of Stalin, he and his deputy were accused of being American spies.

While he was never officially introduced to the man he claimed was his father, Kuzakov alleged that on one occasion while working in the Kremlin "Stalin stopped and looked at me and I felt he wanted to tell me something.

Sebag-Montefiore claimed that although Stalin prevented Kuzakov's arrest, he was nonetheless dismissed from the Communist Party.