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”
Tag Archives: USSR
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”
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”
Hitler’s 1933 Aspiration to Join Ranks With England to Colonize the Soviet Union
After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, the security situation for the USSR changed significantly. The National Socialist regime was able to put into practice its political and ideological slogans that were openly hostile to the Soviet Union. Information obtained by foreign intelligence regarding the long-term intentions of the Hitler governmentContinueContinue reading “Hitler’s 1933 Aspiration to Join Ranks With England to Colonize the Soviet Union”
Gorbachev’s First Lesson as General Secretary: How to Talk to Reagan
On March 10, 1985, Konstantin Chernenko, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) passed away after a short stint as the Soviet leader. Less than 24 hours later, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected at the Central Committee session as Chernenko’s successor. And less than 24 hours after that, he found himselfContinueContinue reading “Gorbachev’s First Lesson as General Secretary: How to Talk to Reagan”
Report on Effect of Blast from First Soviet Nuclear Bomb on Animals
On 30 August 1949, one day after the Soviet Union successfully detonated its first nuclear bomb, Avetik Ignatyevich Burnazyan, Deputy Minister of Health of the USSR, filed a report to Lavrentiy Beria on preliminary findings from data retrieved on more than 1500 animals purposely exposed to the explosion and radiation. As expected, the reading isContinueContinue reading “Report on Effect of Blast from First Soviet Nuclear Bomb on Animals”
1971 KGB Memo Alerts CPSU to Planned Western Anti-Soviet Campaign
On 13 January, 1971, KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov issued a memorandum to the Central Committee of the CPSU on the intensification of the activities of Moscow correspondents of foreign media to collect information from “antisocial elements” (Andrei Sakharov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in particular) during preparations for the 24th Congress of the CPSU. TheContinueContinue reading “1971 KGB Memo Alerts CPSU to Planned Western Anti-Soviet Campaign”
Translating History 