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”
Tag Archives: Ukraine
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”
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”
Declassified Russian Documents Spell Out Europe Campaign to Disrupt Trump’s Ukrainian Peace Efforts
On 5 June 2025, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR) published two declassified human intelligence reports on European efforts to stifle the peace-building process being explored by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to “resolve “resolve the Ukraine crisis.” The first report, supposedly received by the SVR in late March 2025, stating thatContinueContinue reading “Declassified Russian Documents Spell Out Europe Campaign to Disrupt Trump’s Ukrainian Peace Efforts”
Here’s Why LGBT+ is Russia’s Main Domestic Enemy – Carnegie Politika
Photo: Getty Images Another in our series of translations of the latest Carnegie Politika articles. Resolving the Gay Question. Why was LGBT+ designated the main domestic enemy in Russia during the era of the Special Military Operation? Unlike the Soviet approach, Putin’s neo-Victorianism is not directed against same-sex relations as such, or even the peopleContinueContinue reading “Here’s Why LGBT+ is Russia’s Main Domestic Enemy – Carnegie Politika”
Chernobyl: KGB Inexplicably Seeks to Prevent Departure of Foreign Students, Downplays Radiation Threat, 30 April 1986
The following is a translated special report from the head of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR for Kyiv and Kyiv region L. Bykhov to the first secretary of the Kyiv City Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Yu. Yelchenko regarding the growing panic among visiting British students in connection with the Chernobyl accident.ContinueContinue reading “Chernobyl: KGB Inexplicably Seeks to Prevent Departure of Foreign Students, Downplays Radiation Threat, 30 April 1986”
Russia’s Precarious Dance with Yemen – Carnegie Politika
Another in our series of translations of the latest Carnegie Politika articles. Their War and Ours: What Russia is Counting on in the Yemen Conflict Russia, along with Iran, has become one of the few countries actively interacting with the Houthis, including at the diplomatic level. This closeness makes contacts with Russia important for otherContinueContinue reading “Russia’s Precarious Dance with Yemen – Carnegie Politika”
Casting Blame for the Chernobyl Disaster: Foreign Students in Ukraine Chime In
On 30 April 1986, less than four full days after the explosion that rocked the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, an official with the 5th Directorate of the Ukrainian KGB penned a Secret report based on human intelligence sources regarding wild rumors on the source of the catastrophe that had been already been spreading throughout theContinueContinue reading “Casting Blame for the Chernobyl Disaster: Foreign Students in Ukraine Chime In”
Ukrainian KGB Tries to Keep Track of Panicky Foreigners Days After the Chernobyl Disaster
On 26 April 1986, the landscape of Pripyat, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, would change forever. Pripyat was home to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, whose Number 4 reactor exploded that day, setting off a chain of horrific events that would cause insurmountable damage and impact tens of thousands of innocent lives. Never oneContinueContinue reading “Ukrainian KGB Tries to Keep Track of Panicky Foreigners Days After the Chernobyl Disaster”
Translating History 