It is alleged that the Estonian KGB recruited Alexy as an agent on 28 February 1958, just days after his 29th birthday, assigning him the codename "Drozdov" (he had completed his dissertation on Metropolitan Filaret Drozdov). The report detailing his recruitment makes clear that the KGB viewed Alexy, then still a priest, as a high-flier. It had already earmarked him as a future Bishop of the Russian Orthodox diocese of Tallinn and Estonia. He was appointed to this post less than three years later. Among his KGB assignments was one in 1983, when he was sent to the Pskov-Caves Monastery to "pacify" rebellious monks.