One factor preventing wider recognition of the Holodomor as a central moment in 20th century history is the lack of compelling treatment in film.

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 reg…

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 Ukrainian resistance organization OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists…

In 2020, the official periodical of the Russian FSB carried a lengthy but interesting breakdown of the history and successes enjoyed by the Finnish Radio Intelligence Service (Radiotiedustelukeskus, or RTK) during the Winter War between Finland and the USSR (1939-1940), as Germany's ally during World War II (1941-1944), and during the Lapland War (1944-1945) against Germany. The article also details Finland's collaboration with Sweden via…

1956 was a difficult year for the Soviet Union. February saw Khrushchev’s Secret Speech, and within months, the Warsaw Pact nations were made aware of Stalin’s overall shabby behavior, …

1956 was a difficult year for the Soviet Union. February saw Khrushchev's Secret Speech, and within months, the Warsaw Pact nations were made aware of Stalin's overall shabby behavior, to put it lightly. Poland was particularly vocal through its media in badmouthing Soviet culture, fashion, and life in particular. On 26 September 1956, Soviet Embassy counsellor P.P. Turpitko in Warsaw dashed off a five-page encrypted telegram to Moscow to the Central Committee of the CPSU filling in Committee members and seniors in the Foreign Ministry on Poland's apparently free reign in openly mocking and casting aspersions at all things Soviet.

Until 13 May 1961, the Soviet Union had officially (albeit secretly) been working on a project to built a spacecraft armed with a nuclear weapon which would be sent to be detonated on the surface o…

Until 13 May 1961, the Soviet Union had officially (albeit secretly) been working on a project to built a spacecraft armed with a nuclear weapon which would be sent to be detonated on the surface of the moon. The project also called for the creation of the appropriate device to record the detonation, presumably to allow Earth-bound scientists to analyze the results, including the impact of the moon's gravity and negligible atmosphere, and study the subsequent debris cloud and its spread as it moves away from the moon.

On November 22, 1963, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The event shocked the entire world and elicited waves of sympathy on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The genera…

On November 22, 1963, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The event shocked the entire world and elicited waves of sympathy on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The generally positive attitude in the USSR towards the young American president was finally solidified after the publication in Pravda on June 11, 1963, of his keynote speech "Reconsidering Our Attitude Towards Peace."  His openly expressed sympathies for the Russian nation and culture, and his firm conviction that it was possible and necessary to reach an agreement with the Communists on peace and cooperation, despite the ideological divide – all this seemed to open a new page in world history.

On 6 March 1953, a massive warm front struck otherwise icy northern Europe, and wound its way east- and westward, eventually circling the globe. The reason for the warmer than normal air temperatur…

On 6 March 1953, a massive warm front struck otherwise icy northern Europe, and wound its way east- and westward, eventually circling the globe. The reason for the warmer than normal air temperatures was the massive sigh of relief simultaneously exhaled from the entire population of the Soviet Union upon learning that Josef Stalin was dead. And not only merely dead, but clearly most sincerely dead.

Hopes were certainly high when Stalin declared a census be taken in 1937 across the entire Soviet Union. As the illustration above shows, gigantic success was anticipated for socialism in the USSR.…

Hopes were certainly high when Stalin declared a census be taken in 1937 across the entire Soviet Union. As the illustration above shows, gigantic success was anticipated for socialism in the USSR. But as the results started rolling in, Soviet leadership was in for a few surprises. One of the questions asked was whether or not the individuals being polled felt they were religious.

This wraps up (for now, pending additional document releases) our short series of translations relating to the Intrepid Four and their handling for propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union. For furt…

This wraps up (for now, pending additional document releases) our short series of translations relating to the Intrepid Four and their handling for propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union. For further information, please refer to our first report in the series here. Document 8: Memorandum from KGB Chairman Yu.V. Andropov to the CPSU Central Committee, 26 April 1968: TOP SECRET…

This continues our short series of translations relating to the Intrepid Four and their handling for propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union. For further information, please refer to our first repo…

This continues our short series of translations relating to the Intrepid Four and their handling for propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union. For further information, please refer to our first report in the series here. Additional information on the Intrepid sailors is easily found throughout the Internet. One declassified report that offers a bit of the American point of view (from diplomatic and covert sources) …

This continues our short series of translations relating to the Intrepid Four and their handling for propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union. For further information, please refer to our first repo…

This continues our short series of translations relating to the Intrepid Four and their handling for propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union. For further information, please refer to our first report in the series here. Document 4: A paper (from G.V. Shumeyko, head of the International Department of the CPSU Central Committee, November 22, 1967): "On the exchange of opinions in the department (November 21, 1967) on the implementation of measures in interviews with correspondents from the magazines Novoye Vremya, Sovetskiy Soyuz, Paris Match, and the newspaper Moscow News, for the meeting with Moscow State University students and Vietnamese correspondents (with the consent of the sailors), organizing material assistance, and transferring them to the West"

Desertion from war is as old as war itself. The US involvement in Vietnam saw desertion reach its newest heights, with more than half a million US service members fleeing its ranks, but it can be a…

Desertion from war is as old as war itself. The US involvement in Vietnam saw desertion reach its newest heights, with more than half a million US service members fleeing its ranks, but it can be argued that none were so public or pronounced as that of the so-called "Intrepid Four." On 23 October 1967, four US sailors (Richard D.

The following is a translation of the four-page Top Secret covert activity plan of the Lithuanian Department of State Security, dated 7 July 1940, calling for the arrest and elimination of the lead…