The following is a translation of an enciphered telegram from Anthony Eden to the British Embassy in Moscow on possible actions of the USA and England in the event of a Japanese attack on the USSR. Information originating from Soviet agent “List” (British civil servant John Cairncross) via VADIM (Soviet London resident Anatoly Gorsky). TOPContinueContinue reading “November 1941: Top Secret Telegram Reveals Anthony Eden-Lord Halifax Discussion of UK/US Actions if Japan Attacks the Soviets”
Tag Archives: USSR
Soviet Georgians React to Secret Speech Denouncement of Stalin’s Cult of Personality, 1956
Shortly after midnight on 25 February 1956, Nikita Khrushchev was yielded the floor at a closed session of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest. For the next four hours, Khrushchev described and denounced the harsh repressions andContinueContinue reading “Soviet Georgians React to Secret Speech Denouncement of Stalin’s Cult of Personality, 1956”
British Spy Maclean Fears October 1941 American Negotiations with Japan Will Sell Out the USSR While Protecting the British and Dutch
The following translation is that of an enciphered telegram dated 6 October 1941 from Soviet agent Vadim in London, citing information from source “Stuart” on the possibility of the conclusion of an agreement between the Americans and the Japanese, which would ensure the safety of American, English and Dutch interests in the Far East, andContinueContinue reading “British Spy Maclean Fears October 1941 American Negotiations with Japan Will Sell Out the USSR While Protecting the British and Dutch”
August 1941: Japanese Diplomats: Hitler Miscalculated, but War Between Japan and USSR Inevitable
The following is a translation of a Top Secret encrypted telegram dated 29 August 1941 from a Soviet agent in the Chinese city of Harbin regarding the opinion of Japanese diplomats, as related by attaché from the Japanese embassy Shigeru Yoshida, on the inevitability of war with the USSR. TOP SECRET CIPHER TELEGRAM No. 6269ContinueContinue reading “August 1941: Japanese Diplomats: Hitler Miscalculated, but War Between Japan and USSR Inevitable”
August 1941: Reports of Imminent Japanese Attack on the USSR from Agent in Shanghai
The following is a translation of a brief Top Secret encrypted telegram dated 27 August 1941 from Shanghai regarding the concentration of two and a half million Japanese soldiers in Manchuria and Mongolia and regarding Japan’s plans to attack the USSR in the coming days. The identity of the original source of the information, SEMENOV,ContinueContinue reading “August 1941: Reports of Imminent Japanese Attack on the USSR from Agent in Shanghai”
Russia and Ukraine, 1991: Declassified Phone Conversations Between Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow – Part 2
The question of the dissolution of the USSR was decided in the last four months of its existence, after the August coup and before the meeting of the heads of the USSR republics in Alma-Ata in December. Some historians feel that one of the key reasons for the collapse of the Union was the relationsContinueContinue reading “Russia and Ukraine, 1991: Declassified Phone Conversations Between Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow – Part 2”
On This Date: 1944 Report from Beria on Security Operations to Destroy Armed Ukrainian Partisan Formations
Special Folder Top Secret Copy No. 1 5 August 1944 According to the NKVD-NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR, recently, in connection with the advance of the Red Army units to the West and the departure of individual units of the NKVD troops stationed in the areas of the Rivne region, the OUN (Organization ofContinueContinue reading “On This Date: 1944 Report from Beria on Security Operations to Destroy Armed Ukrainian Partisan Formations”
28 May 1945: Dönitz Government Apprehended, Himmler Commits Suicide
Another Top Secret cable from Berlin to Moscow to keep Stalin apprised of the rather dynamic environment post-war Germany is undergoing. In this short (and partially-redacted) declassified account from a Soviet agent in Berlin, some details are provided of the large-scale British operation to apprehend the Dönitz government, carried out on 23 May. The authorContinueContinue reading “28 May 1945: Dönitz Government Apprehended, Himmler Commits Suicide”
16 May 1945: Positive ID of of Hitler and Goebbels Corpses Amidst Early Days of Berlin Post-War Recovery
Yet another in the series of Top Secret reports submitted from Berlin by an unidentified deep-cover “illegal,” one of many keeping Moscow informed of how things are working out in Germany in the early days after the war. In this excerpt, the author indicates that Berlin appears to be somewhat on the rebound, following theContinueContinue reading “16 May 1945: Positive ID of of Hitler and Goebbels Corpses Amidst Early Days of Berlin Post-War Recovery”
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”
Translating History 