We’ve all seen our share of crazy-pants conspiracy theories over the past decade, but they all pale in comparison to the dossier compiled by Yuriy Andropov’s KGB in 1978 during the run-up to the Moscow-held 1980 Olympics. The Top Secret report, “Concerning plans of Western intelligence services and foreign anti-Soviet organizations in connection with theContinueContinue reading “1978 KGB Classified Document Pushes Bizarre Warnings Ahead of 1980 Moscow Olympic Games”
Tag Archives: Soviet Union
1977 Top Secret KGB Document on Amnesty International’s Anti-Soviet Tendencies – “Just Ignore Them”
The following is the translation of a declassified Top Secret paper written by KGB Chairman Yuriy Andropov and Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko, addressed to the Central Committee of the CPSU: “Concerning measures in connection with the anti-Soviet aspirations in the activities of Amnesty International,” dated 7 June 1977. Top Secret SPECIAL FOLDERContinueContinue reading “1977 Top Secret KGB Document on Amnesty International’s Anti-Soviet Tendencies – “Just Ignore Them””
Top Secret 1945 Document Reveals Soviet Censors Ordered to Confiscate Mailed “Objectionable” Photographs of War Invalids
There are few testimonies and fewer photographs left about the life of Soviet disabled front-line soldiers after the war. This is a consequence of the near-total purge of the information by the NKVD: images and texts compromising the Soviet government were removed from everywhere, including personal correspondence. Even casual students of the history of theContinueContinue reading “Top Secret 1945 Document Reveals Soviet Censors Ordered to Confiscate Mailed “Objectionable” Photographs of War Invalids”
Cosmonauts to Brezhnev in Top Secret 1965 Letter: Soviet Woes and US Gains in Space
On 22 October 1965, a letter was sent to Leonid Brezhnev about the challenges facing the Soviet Union’s once all-powerful space program. The letter that hit Brezhnev’s desk was probably worth his attention for two reasons: first, it carried the classified “Top Secret,” and second, it was signed by seven cosmonauts, well-known across the globeContinueContinue reading “Cosmonauts to Brezhnev in Top Secret 1965 Letter: Soviet Woes and US Gains in Space”
1955: Soviet Scientists Float Idea of Launching an Artificial Earth Satellite by 1958 to Leadership
We all know the rest of the story. Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union in early October, 1957, thanks to a plucky team of scientists and Khrushchev’s desire to beat the Americans. On 5 August 1955, eminent Soviet scientists Mikhail Khrunichev, Vasiliy Ryabikov, and Sergey Korolev wrote a second letter to Soviet leaders KhrushchevContinueContinue reading “1955: Soviet Scientists Float Idea of Launching an Artificial Earth Satellite by 1958 to Leadership”
1986: Gorbachev Reacts to US Mass Expulsion of Soviets on Heels of Reykjavik Summit
1986 was an exciting year in the world of foreign policy, especially for the Americans and Soviets. Here’s a brief rundown of events that sets the tone for this article: March 7: The United States orders the Soviet Union to reduce staff members of the Soviet, Ukrainian, and Belorussian missions to the United Nations toContinueContinue reading “1986: Gorbachev Reacts to US Mass Expulsion of Soviets on Heels of Reykjavik Summit”
Top Secret 1974 Politburo Records on the Solzhenitsyn Issue: Exile? Imprison? Expel?
By January 1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was already well known throughout most of the Soviet Union as a rabble-rouser, trouble-maker, ne’er-do-well, and pretty good author. When he quietly sent his weighty manuscript for ‘Gulag Archipelago’ off to the YMCA Press to be published in Paris and New York City, many inside Kremlin circles were shocked, toContinueContinue reading “Top Secret 1974 Politburo Records on the Solzhenitsyn Issue: Exile? Imprison? Expel?”
1943 Report to Moscow on the Frank Questions Being Asked of the Liberators
Throughout 1943, as the German Army stalled and took on massive losses in Soviet territory, Red Army troops were able to eventually push them back and, in the wake of the battles, were rightly embraced as liberators of the inhabitants of those territories the Nazis had been occupying. Soldiers and citizens alike, unsurprisingly, had manyContinueContinue reading “1943 Report to Moscow on the Frank Questions Being Asked of the Liberators”
Stalin’s Eldest Son: Captured, Interrogated, Killed
Yakov Dzhugashvili, the oldest child of Josef Stalin, could never be said to have enjoyed an easy life. After his mother died when he was less than one year old, his father dumped him off to be reared by her family while he went off to be Stalin, doing Stalinesque things as only he couldContinueContinue reading “Stalin’s Eldest Son: Captured, Interrogated, Killed”
Russia and Ukraine, 1991: Declassified Phone Conversations Between Washington and Moscow – Part 1
On December 26, 1991, the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration ending 69 years of the existence of the Soviet Union. This was the result of the Belovezh Accords of December 8, when the leaders of the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Belarus SSR signed aContinueContinue reading “Russia and Ukraine, 1991: Declassified Phone Conversations Between Washington and Moscow – Part 1”
Translating History 