Every now and then, while researching other materials being translated, I’ll bump into a curious news article that catches the eye and won’t let it go. For example, this gem from the Philadelphia Inquirer from 10 January 1986: As I was living and working in West Berlin at the time, many kilometers within the bowelsContinueContinue reading “Cold War West Germany: Giving Eastern Bloc Truck Drivers License to Spy”
Author Archives: misterestes
Rosatom: Nuclear Secrets of Department K: Counterintelligence Activities in Russia’s Nuclear Industry
Earlier this week, the official website for the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation published an article on newly revealed activities of the nuclear industry’s counterintelligence organs. We’re translated the article and are happy to provide it to our readers. Nuclear Secrets of Department “K”: Counterintelligence Activities in the Development of Russia’s Nuclear Industry 1 DecemberContinueContinue reading “Rosatom: Nuclear Secrets of Department K: Counterintelligence Activities in Russia’s Nuclear Industry”
FSB Spill: Russian Anti-Soviet Saboteur Describes Training by American Agents, Quick Capture by Soviet Authorities
An earlier article from TranslatingHistory offered some details from a brief interrogation of Aleksandr Lakhno, who was trained in West Germany in the early 1950s along with several other émigrés from the Soviet Union to carry out, at best, an anti-Soviet propaganda campaign. Lakhno spent months learning tradecraft from US and British intelligence specialists inContinueContinue reading “FSB Spill: Russian Anti-Soviet Saboteur Describes Training by American Agents, Quick Capture by Soviet Authorities”
FSB Materials on Post-War Operations of Soviet Nazi Collaborators With American Intelligence Agencies
The Central Archives of the Russian Federation Federal Security Service (FSB) recently declassified documents from criminal cases against members of a group of American intelligence agents — Aleksandr Lakhno, Aleksandr Makov, and Sergei Gorbunov — who served in Nazi penal establishments during the Great Patriotic War and were arrested in April 1953 by Soviet stateContinueContinue reading “FSB Materials on Post-War Operations of Soviet Nazi Collaborators With American Intelligence Agencies”
Soviet State Security Uses Family Members to Entrap Ukrainian Pair With US Intelligence Connections
On 22 August 1948, the Minister of State Security (MGB) of the Ukrainian SSR, General-Lieutenant Sergey Savchenko wrote a lengthy report to his USSR counterpart, General-Colonel Viktor Abakumov regarding efforts to entrap two young men of Jewish ancestry believed to have arrived in the Soviet Union from China attempting to gain entry into the UkrainianContinueContinue reading “Soviet State Security Uses Family Members to Entrap Ukrainian Pair With US Intelligence Connections”
FSB Publication Details Finland’s Communications Intelligence Successes Against Soviet Union Before and During WW2
In 2020, the official periodical of the Russian FSB [Federal Security Service] carried a lengthy but interesting breakdown of the history and successes enjoyed by the Finnish Radio Intelligence Service (Radiotiedustelukeskus, or RTK) during the Winter War between Finland and the USSR (1939-1940), as Germany’s ally during World War II (1941-1944), and during the LaplandContinueContinue reading “FSB Publication Details Finland’s Communications Intelligence Successes Against Soviet Union Before and During WW2”
1956: Soviet Embassy in Poland Alerts CPSU to Rising Anti-Soviet Sentiments in Polish Press
1956 was a difficult year for the Soviet Union. February saw Khrushchev’s Secret Speech, and within months, the Warsaw Pact nations were made aware of Stalin’s overall shabby behavior, to put it lightly. Poland was particularly vocal through its media in badmouthing Soviet culture, fashion, and life in particular. On 26 September 1956, Soviet EmbassyContinueContinue reading “1956: Soviet Embassy in Poland Alerts CPSU to Rising Anti-Soviet Sentiments in Polish Press”
1961: Communist Party Drops Plans to Nuke Moon, Expands Defensive Space Opportunities
Until 13 May 1961, the Soviet Union had officially (albeit secretly) been working on a project to built a spacecraft armed with a nuclear weapon which would be sent to be detonated on the surface of the moon. The project also called for the creation of the appropriate device to record the detonation, presumably toContinueContinue reading “1961: Communist Party Drops Plans to Nuke Moon, Expands Defensive Space Opportunities”
1963: A Cold War Stand-Down: Top Secret Documents on Kremlin Response to JFK Assassination
On November 22, 1963, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The event shocked the entire world and elicited waves of sympathy on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The generally positive attitude in the USSR towards the young American president was finally solidified after the publication in Pravda on June 11,ContinueContinue reading “1963: A Cold War Stand-Down: Top Secret Documents on Kremlin Response to JFK Assassination”
1962: Lies about Stalin-Era Illegal Executions Come Back to Haunt the KGB
On 6 March 1953, a massive warm front struck otherwise icy northern Europe, and wound its way east- and westward, eventually circling the globe. The reason for the warmer than normal air temperatures was the massive sigh of relief simultaneously exhaled from the entire population of the Soviet Union upon learning that Josef Stalin wasContinueContinue reading “1962: Lies about Stalin-Era Illegal Executions Come Back to Haunt the KGB”
Translating History 