Source: Istorychna Pravda, “How Ukrainians Reacted to Stalin’s Death. Declassified Special Notifications of the MGB” On Friday, 5 March 1953, the newspaper Pravda published the following sensational piece of news: “On March 5, at 9:50 in the evening, after a serious illness, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of the SSRContinue reading “Ukrainians React to Stalin’s Death in a Way that Attracts the Attention of State Security”
Author Archives: misterestes
Russian FSB Publishes Declassified Archival Materials About Hitler’s Last Days
An announcement was made on 27 April 2023 that the Russian FSB’s Public Relations Center has published declassified documents from the investigation file stored in the FSB archives for the Novgorod Region regarding Adolf Hitler’s personal pilot, SS Gruppenführer and Police Lieutenant General Hans Bauer. Along with the documents of Baur himself, the investigation fileContinue reading “Russian FSB Publishes Declassified Archival Materials About Hitler’s Last Days”
Lithuanian KGB Hopes to Put a Stop to Wayward Airborne Weapons from Striking Local Farms, 1955
In 1955, the Chairman of the Committee of State Security under the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, Colonel K. Lyaudis, drafted a Top Secret memo to address a number of recent incidents involving practice bombs dropped by Soviet Air Force pilots at an Air Force range in the Eišiškės region. AsContinue reading “Lithuanian KGB Hopes to Put a Stop to Wayward Airborne Weapons from Striking Local Farms, 1955”
New Acquisition: Collection of Materials from the Higher School of the Dzerzhinsky KGB School of the USSR
A recent acquisition for this site is the 392-page “Materials from the Higher School of the Dzerzhinsky KGB School of the USSR,” published in 1988 under the classification of Top Secret. We’re scouring through the pages to determine which, if any, of the articles warrant translation and dissemination through these pages. There are some ratherContinue reading “New Acquisition: Collection of Materials from the Higher School of the Dzerzhinsky KGB School of the USSR”
1990: Soviet Union Responds to Czechoslovakia Request for 1968 Prague Spring Invasion Documents
In 1990, members of the CPSU’s Central Committee found themselves in a touchy situation. With the communist regime no longer in power in Czechoslovakia, that country’s Office of the Attorney General asked the Soviet Union leadership to hand over a specific document that, it was felt, could finger the individuals responsible for the 1968 invasionContinue reading “1990: Soviet Union Responds to Czechoslovakia Request for 1968 Prague Spring Invasion Documents”
Beria’s Son Petitions CPSU and KGB Leadership for Return of Confiscated Goods, Academic Title, and State Decorations
By 1965, Sergo Beria had lived with his KGB-assigned new last name ‘Gegechkori’ (his mother’s maiden name) for a decade. He’d also found himself, in his words, unaware that he had been stripped of his academic credentials, and that his discharge from the Soviet Army had been accompanied with a demotion down to the lowestContinue reading “Beria’s Son Petitions CPSU and KGB Leadership for Return of Confiscated Goods, Academic Title, and State Decorations”
1971 Ukrainian KGB Report Documents Grisly Discovery of Ukrainian Mass Burial Site in Bykvinya
The following is a declassified Secret report filed by Vitaliy Fedorchuk, at the time the Chairman of the Ukrainian Committee for State Security, regarding the discovery of the now infamous mass grave site in Bykvinya, near Kyiv. Following up on the news that a number of juveniles had unearthed gold dental work and skeletal humanContinue reading “1971 Ukrainian KGB Report Documents Grisly Discovery of Ukrainian Mass Burial Site in Bykvinya”
Declassified KGB Reports on Eve of Margaret Thatcher 1990 Visit to the USSR
In 1990, the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse. Just a year and some change from the failed coup attempt, and the sounds of Eastern Europe’s ideological fetters and chains (and the very real remains of the Berlin Wall) falling to the ground as a hint of things to come, 1990 was stillContinue reading “Declassified KGB Reports on Eve of Margaret Thatcher 1990 Visit to the USSR”
Newly Declassified Documents: USSR Preparations for Emergency Touchdown of American Apollo Spacecraft on Soviet Soil
The following is the translation of an article from the Russian news website “3DNews – Daily Digital Digest,” which was originally published on 16 July. We’ve learned that the USSR was preparing the necessary equipment in the event of an emergency landing of an American Apollo spacecraft on Russian territory in 1975. This is shownContinue reading “Newly Declassified Documents: USSR Preparations for Emergency Touchdown of American Apollo Spacecraft on Soviet Soil”
Newly Declassified Documents: ROSCOSMOS Website Publishes Declassified Transcripts from Ill-Fated SOYUZ-11 Mission
To mark the 50th anniversary of the tragedy that took their life, ROSCOSMOS recently published information about the crew of SOYUZ-11. Among the documents are the declassified conversations of the cosmonauts before their flight. The site is in its original Russian. On 30 June 1971, when the crew of the SOYUZ-11 spacecraft were returning toContinue reading “Newly Declassified Documents: ROSCOSMOS Website Publishes Declassified Transcripts from Ill-Fated SOYUZ-11 Mission”
Translating History 