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”
Category Archives: KGB
Materials on Soviet Nazi Collaborator from Pyatigorsk Declassified
The FSB Directorate for Stavropol Krai, together with the regional investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Russia, recently declassified archival documents about the accomplice of the Nazi occupiers, Olga Gindler, a native of Pyatigorsk of German descent. According to the document owners, their publication is being carried out as part of measures to counterContinueContinue reading “Materials on Soviet Nazi Collaborator from Pyatigorsk Declassified”
Yeltsin Library Declassifies Nazi Plans to Cooperate with United States, Great Britain
On 7 April 2025, the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library published declassified information which reveals that Nazi Germany planned to cooperate with representatives of the USA and Great Britain in a war against the USSR. The relevant document can be found on the institution’s website; the English translation is provided below. The declassified document is postedContinueContinue reading “Yeltsin Library Declassifies Nazi Plans to Cooperate with United States, Great Britain”
Soviet Persecution of Family of Executed Ukrainian Writer Hnat Khotkevych
Please note: The English translation of Ukrainian names and placenames in declassified Russian-language material uses Russian spelling conventions rather than Ukrainian. This is not done with any intent to disrespect the Ukrainian language or people, but is merely a translation convention for historical documents of this sort. The following background information was translated from theContinueContinue reading “Soviet Persecution of Family of Executed Ukrainian Writer Hnat Khotkevych”
Top Secret Details for the Soviet Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan
On 1 April 1988, two weeks before the Geneva Accords were enacted, a meeting was held of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, outlining scenarios for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan – scenarios which took into consideration the official signing of the accords, as well as the refusal of theContinueContinue reading “Top Secret Details for the Soviet Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan”
Declassified KGB Report on President Jimmy Carter’s “Dangerous Game” with US-Soviet Relations
Last month saw the publication of a newly declassified report submitted by then-KGB Director Yuri Andropov to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union based on “confidential” conversations with US business and political leaders regarding the dangerous direction led by US President Jimmy Carter. The initial text below, from the FSBContinueContinue reading “Declassified KGB Report on President Jimmy Carter’s “Dangerous Game” with US-Soviet Relations”
RUSSIAN FSB PUBLISHES DECLASSIFIED WW2 DOCUMENTS ON GERMAN TRAINING OF ORPHANED SOVIET CHILDREN TO CONDUCT ACTS OF SABOTAGE
Nine documents were declassified and published on the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service) website on 1 June 2024, the International Day for the Protection of Children. The documents will be translated and published on this site over the coming weeks. The following is a translation of the introductory FSB article. Subsequent translated documents will beContinueContinue reading “RUSSIAN FSB PUBLISHES DECLASSIFIED WW2 DOCUMENTS ON GERMAN TRAINING OF ORPHANED SOVIET CHILDREN TO CONDUCT ACTS OF SABOTAGE”
Ukrainians React to Stalin’s Death in a Way that Attracts the Attention of State Security
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 SSRContinueContinue reading “Ukrainians React to Stalin’s Death in a Way that Attracts the Attention of State Security”
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. AsContinueContinue 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 ratherContinueContinue reading “New Acquisition: Collection of Materials from the Higher School of the Dzerzhinsky KGB School of the USSR”
Translating History 