The following translation is cobbled together from Ukrainian- and Russian-language reports from a number of Ukrainian news organizations. Ukraine has declassified a limited list of minerals, including critical minerals, which was a relic from Soviet times, according to Svitlana Hrynchuk, Ukraine’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. “The classification has been removed, and weContinueContinue reading “Minerals for Weapons: Ukraine Declassifies Geological Data on Strategic Minerals”
Monthly Archives: June 2025
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! But Which Ones? The Arrival of the Mysterious Il-96
Many Russian (and some US) virtual plane-spotters are wondering as to what a mysterious “special” diplomatic Il-96 is doing in the United States, having flown to Washington DC with no apparent notice to the media. At 22:28 Moscow time, the mysterious Russian special flight landed in New York City. At 21:10 Moscow time, information aboutContinueContinue reading “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! But Which Ones? The Arrival of the Mysterious Il-96”
Soviet Spies Reveal Dangerous Condition of Chernobyl Reactors Two Years Before the Catastrophe
On 1 March 1984, slightly more than two years before the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion that rocked the globe, Soviet intelligence agents provided information to the Ukrainian KGB regarding the alarming condition of the power plant – in particular, load-bearing structures (girders and concrete slabs) at three different locations of reactor No.ContinueContinue reading “Soviet Spies Reveal Dangerous Condition of Chernobyl Reactors Two Years Before the Catastrophe”
Soviet Censors Send Top Secret 1946 Report to Communist Officials for Action Regarding Mail from Family Members of Ukrainian Servicemen
Postal censorship was never unique to the Soviet Union. Often most associated with wartime correspondence between deployed servicemen and their families back home, in many countries censorship was accepted as a small price to pay to keep operationally sensitive information out of enemy hands. Also generally accepted is the understanding that, once peace has beenContinueContinue reading “Soviet Censors Send Top Secret 1946 Report to Communist Officials for Action Regarding Mail from Family Members of Ukrainian Servicemen”
Hitler’s 1933 Aspiration to Join Ranks With England to Colonize the Soviet Union
After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, the security situation for the USSR changed significantly. The National Socialist regime was able to put into practice its political and ideological slogans that were openly hostile to the Soviet Union. Information obtained by foreign intelligence regarding the long-term intentions of the Hitler governmentContinueContinue reading “Hitler’s 1933 Aspiration to Join Ranks With England to Colonize the Soviet Union”
Top Secret: Months Before Apollo-Soyuz Launch, Leak Detected in Soviet Docking System
On July 15, 1975, within a few hours of each other, manned spacecraft – the Soviet Soyuz-19 and the American Apollo – took off into the sky to conduct an experiment in docking and creating the first-ever unified international orbital complex. Two days later, Soviet cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov met American astronauts ThomasContinueContinue reading “Top Secret: Months Before Apollo-Soyuz Launch, Leak Detected in Soviet Docking System”
Oil and Reputation: Russia’s Wins and Losses from the Israeli-Iranian Conflict – Carnegie Politika
Another in our series of translations of the latest Carnegie Politika articles. Oil and Reputation: What a New War in the Middle East Means for Russia Russian leadership tends to value tactical gains over long-term planning, so it may well believe that a new crisis in the Middle East is more likely to play intoContinueContinue reading “Oil and Reputation: Russia’s Wins and Losses from the Israeli-Iranian Conflict – Carnegie Politika”
Soviets Learn of 1944 Peace Proposal to US from Prominent German Officers – Lets Germany Continue Fighting the USSR
On 14 June 1944, an unidentified Soviet human intelligence agent in Washington intercepted information that Allen Dulles, at the time the Swiss Director of the Office of Strategic Services, had been approached by German General Walther von Brauchitsch in Switzerland to meet at the US Embassy in Bern to discuss a peace proposal. The German,ContinueContinue reading “Soviets Learn of 1944 Peace Proposal to US from Prominent German Officers – Lets Germany Continue Fighting the USSR”
Weidling Announces Hitler’s Suicide, Orders German Army to Lay Down Arms
On 1 May 1945, amidst fierce fighting in Berlin and with both Hitler and Goebbels having committed suicide in the span of 36 hours, the Commander of the Berlin Defense Area Helmut Weidling clearly saw the writing on the wall. Soviet troops were certainly just days away from taking the city, and Weidling recognized thatContinueContinue reading “Weidling Announces Hitler’s Suicide, Orders German Army to Lay Down Arms”
Moldova Announces Complete Declassified Deportation Archive to be Made Public in July
The popular Moldovan news website Point.md today cited reporting from tv8.md on the declassification of tens of thousands of files on Moldovan citizens deported, most significantly from the Stalin era. Because the website’s report is currently only available in Romanian and Russian, we have taken it upon ourselves to provide an English translation for thoseContinueContinue reading “Moldova Announces Complete Declassified Deportation Archive to be Made Public in July”
Translating History 