
Top expert on #KGB (ops, archives, spy fiction). Book: KGB Literati (https://xitter.cf/t.co/uWXN1eLc0u). PhD. 25+ years university prof in Russia/Balkans/US.
San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2020
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Tomorrow my book #KGBLiterati meets the world & the world meets #KGBLiterati!
amazon.com/KGB-Literati-Fict…
Simon Willmetts: "A must read for anybody interested in intelligence, spy fiction, and the role that culture played during the Cold War." ⬇️ @utpress
"How #KGB Used Illegals inside the Soviet Union"
My NEW article based on the Mitrokhin files. ⬇️
The link: tinyurl.com/49n6euk2
If you are interested in the searchable documentary record of Soviet #spy operations & personalities in the United States, I highly recommend the Friday Archive.
43 collections/ 1,130 files/ 147,000 pages.
The link: fridayarchive.org/
For those interested in the Soviet-Chinese #spywars during the Cold War mentioned by @mirek_szczerba, here's a good way to start:
A series of blog posts I wrote on this topic based on #KGB in-house publications.
wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/s…
"CZŁOWIEK KTÓRY TWORZYŁ LUDZI, KTÓRZY NIE ISTNIELI"
Witam Państwa i zapraszam na sobotni 2 -częściowy wątek z historii szpiegostwa i wywiadów.
W środę pokazałem grafikę AI przedstawiającą idącego podziemnym korytarzem -sowieckiego oficera.
To generał -major Jurij Iwanowicz Drozdow.
Jeden z najciekawszych oficerów w historii sowieckiego wywiadu i człowiek, którego prawdziwy życiorys momentami wygląda jak gotowy scenariusz thrillera szpiegowskiego.
Dlatego to jego wybrałem na jednego z bohaterów mojego bogato ilustrowanego thrillera psychologiczno-szpiegowskiego:👇
"DZIEDZICTWO.NIELEGAŁ "
Urodzony w 1925 roku na Białorusi.
Żołnierz II wojny światowej.
Po wojnie służył w Niemczech, ukończył Wojskowy Instytut Języków Obcych, a w 1956 roku rozpoczął służbę w KGB. Doskonale znał niemiecki.
Kilka lat później znalazł się przy jednej z najbardziej symbolicznych operacji zimnej wojny.
10 lutego 1962 roku.
Słynny Most Glienicke...
Po jednej stronie Francis Gary Powers - pilot amerykańskiego U-2 zestrzelonego nad ZSRR.
Po drugiej William Fisher, znany światu jako Rudolf Abel - sowiecki nielegał aresztowany w Stanach Zjednoczonych.
Oficjalna biografia Drozdowa potwierdza jego udział w operacji związanej z wymianą Fishera na Powersa.
Ale dla naszej historii znacznie ważniejsze jest to, co wydarzyło się dwa lata później.
1964.
Chiny.
Drozdow obejmuje kierownictwo rezydentury sowieckiego wywiadu w ChRL.
Pozostanie tam do 1968 roku...
Trafia do Chin w wyjątkowym momencie.
Dawny sojusz Moskwy i Pekinu rozpada się.
Ideologiczny konflikt między dwoma komunistycznymi mocarstwami przeradza się również w konflikt ich aparatów bezpieczeństwa.
Późniejsze tajne opracowania KGB pokazują, jak poważnie Moskwa zaczęła traktować chińskie służby jako przeciwnika.
I tutaj pojawia się szczegół, który wiele lat później będzie niezwykle interesujący.
Według jednego z tajnych opracowań KGB analizowanych przez znakomitego mojego Followersa - p. dr @ChekistMonitor , chińskie Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego ( MSS) miało rozpocząć systematyczne przygotowywanie nielegałów do działania w ZSRR już w połowie lat sześćdziesiątych.
Dokładnie w okresie, kiedy Drozdow pracował w Chinach...
Człowiek, który później stanie na czele programu sowieckich nielegałów, spędził cztery lata w kraju, którego służby w tym samym okresie rozwijały własne, długoterminowe koncepcje operacji nielegalnych.
Przypadek historii?
Być może.
Ale historia Drozdowa dopiero się zaczynała...
Po powrocie pracował w centrali Pierwszego Zarządu Głównego KGB i został zastępcą szefa Zarządu „S”.
W latach 1975–1979 kierował rezydenturą w Nowym Jorku.
A w 1979 roku objął strukturę, która będzie najważniejsza dla naszej opowieści.
Zarząd „S”.
Nielegałowie.
Ludzie wysyłani za granicę bez oficjalnego związku z państwem, które ich tam skierowało.
Ludzie posiadający legendy, dokumenty i życiorysy pozwalające im funkcjonować w cudzym społeczeństwie.
Drozdow kierował Zarządem „S” aż do 1991 roku.
W jego biografii był jeszcze Afganistan, operacja „Sztorm-333”, pałac Hafizullaha Amina oraz inicjatywa utworzenia jednostki specjalnej Wympieł.
Nielegałowie.
I rok 1991.
Bo właśnie w tym miejscu prawdziwa historia Jurija Drozdowa zaczyna stykać się z historią, którą opowiedziałem w moim thrillerze:
„DZIEDZICTWO.NIELEGAŁ" .
Wszystko, o czym pisałem powyżej, należy do historii.
To, co może wydarzyć się dalej - należy już do mojego thrillera...
1/2
#HistoriaWywiadu
@AGasztold @KapitanLisowski @A_Pawlikowski @AleksanderOlech
What did #KGB publish in its #topsecret journal Sbornik in January 1986?
Below is my translation of Table of Contents. ⬇️
Table of Contents
Counterintelligence Activities
The Discussion of the Important Questions Regarding the Agent-Operational Activities … 3
V. TITOV, I. TIKHONOV, and N. SKOROVAROV While Trying to Escape: A Documentary Essay … 9
V. KOSMACH and S. VINNIK Creating the Agent Positions in the Ukrainian MVD Units … 24
K. POLTORAK and V. IMMER From the Active Positions … 31
A. SHIVERSKIKH From the Practice of the Informational Coverage of the Chekist Measures … 37
A. SHABANOV On the Slippery Boards … 40
S. DIAKOV The Role of the Legal Assessment of Operational Information in the Activities of Counterintelligence … 43
Investigation and Inquiry
N. LELEKACH and V. GRAB No Right to Forgiveness. On the Investigation of the Cases Regarding the Former Terrorists of the OUN … 51
Training and Education of the Personnel
Iu. SHRAMKO Fully Enhance the Role of the Supervisor … 57
V. DIACHENKO The Street Named After Tardzhimanov … 61
From the History of the VChK-KGB
N. GOROKHOV The History Pages of the Tula Chekists … 64
I. KHODAKOV The Werewolf … 65
V. ZALESOV A Letter to the Editor … 71
Book Reviews
V. KONOPLENKO and V. KURABKO From the Experience of the Struggle Against the Agent Activities of the Hostile Intelligence Services … 72
Assisting Our Authors
The Types of Topics Solicited for Submission in the Sbornik of the KGB of the USSR … 76
Some great dialogue in Roger Hall's #spy fiction novel 19:
"'You always were a wise guy, Winthrop,' he said, in a voice heavy with dislike.
'Coming from you, I take that as a compliment.'"
Witty statements from Chapter 1, such as "if you really know what's going on, you don't have to know what's going on to know what's going on" & "if they know enough to write a book, they know enough not to write a book" reveal that Hall was a true insider in the #spy business.
A “trace” is a summary information on a given individual that an intelligence service keeps in its records.
I've recently started a short article series "Top Secret: Traces from #KGB Files."
Here's the link for the first 4 installments: thechekistmonitor.blogspot.c…
Happy 96th birthday to my grandmother! She was born when Herbert Hoover was U.S. president and my favorite place for archival research is Hoover Library & Archives Reading Room at Stanford.
Soviet intel officer Yelizaveta Parshina claimed in her memoir that Masaryk was thrown out of the window by #MGB Lt. Gen. Mikhail Belkin's personnel. Belkin, whom she knew well, allegedly told her this in the 1960s & even named the direct perpetrator.
dw.com/en/police-exhume-body…
Parshina had a long intelligence career. She was active in the Spanish Civil War, WWII, and operated as an illegal in Czechoslovakia in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She described numerous flawed practices and unprofessional behaviors of her handlers, including the instances of their stealing the money and resources allocated to her by Moscow Center.
This volume of #KGB Sbornik included an article on the case of the Soviet nuclear engineer Yuri Pavlov who was a #BND & #CIA asset. #KGB alleged that Pavlov's compromised dead-drop led to the detention of a CIA case officer Lon Augustenborg working undercover as US vice consul in Leningrad, his wife Denise & their 14-month-old daughter on this day in 1983.
Here's a link to Augustenborg's 2022 interview about his time in Leningrad, including his detention by the KGB: news3lv.com/news/local/forme…
What did #KGB publish in its #topsecret journal Sbornik in December 1985?
Below is my translation of Table of Contents. ⬇️
Table of Contents
In Anticipation of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU
N. PCHELINTSEV Increasing the Level of the Counterintelligence Protection of the Economic Facilities … 3
Counterintelligence Activities
V. TRETIAKOV, V. CHERKESOV, and A. ZVIAGINSKII The Agent of Two Intelligence Services … 11
N. GIBADULOV, A. BARKOV, and S. LUKASHENKO The Counterintelligence Protection of the Construction of the Main Gas Pipeline Urengoi-Uzhgorod … 22
F. KUDASHKIN and Kh. BAGRAMOV Stopping the Hostile Activities of the Military Intelligence Officers of the Adversary … 22
Iu. PETKIAVICHIUS The Struggle Against Clerical Extremism – Our Important Task … 27
A. ARKHIPOV and Iu. GROZDOV On the Practice of Exposing in the Press the Intelligence and Sabotage Activities of the Adversary Using the Sea-Based Channels … 36
V. MELNIKOV and L. KULIABICHEV There Was Prophylactics and There Was Recidivism … 40
V. VASILEV and A. BOCHKOV How A Nationalist Group Was Decomposed … 44
Iu. CHUFAROVSKII, V. KANEVETS, and A. SHARMAR On the Trail of the Anonymous … 49
G. MAGOMEDOV and G. ABUEV The Illegal Publication Presses Eliminated … 53
V. LUTSENKO and Iu. PYDIN The Demise of the Doers of the “VCR Business” … 57
I. KULINICH and V. GAMZA The All-Around Assessment of the Personality Helped the Success of the Prophylactics … 62
A. UDOVENKO and A. POGORELII The Nazi Collaborators Found the Hiding Place in the USA … 65
A. TSARKOV … Thanks to the Vigilance of a Citizen … 68
Investigation and Inquiry
I. TKACHUK On the Typical Approaches in the Investigation of the Loss of Secret Documents … 71
V. RYBAK and O. CHUMAK On the Use of the Agents Inside the Prison Cell … 78
Training and Education of the Personnel
D. VASHKOVIAK and V. MARYCHEV The Education of the Personnel on the Basis of the Revolutionary and War Traditions … 86
V. PONOMAREV Some Specific Features in Counting the Number of Years Required for Retirement of the Military Personnel of the KGB Who Served in the Units of the MVD … 89
Reference Bibliography
I. PANOV and B. DOLZHIKOV A Useful Handbook for Practical Work … 92
Published by the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR Named After F. E. Dzerzhinsky … 95
What did #KGB publish in its #topsecret journal Sbornik in December 1985?
Below is my translation of Table of Contents. ⬇️
Table of Contents
In Anticipation of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU
N. PCHELINTSEV Increasing the Level of the Counterintelligence Protection of the Economic Facilities … 3
Counterintelligence Activities
V. TRETIAKOV, V. CHERKESOV, and A. ZVIAGINSKII The Agent of Two Intelligence Services … 11
N. GIBADULOV, A. BARKOV, and S. LUKASHENKO The Counterintelligence Protection of the Construction of the Main Gas Pipeline Urengoi-Uzhgorod … 22
F. KUDASHKIN and Kh. BAGRAMOV Stopping the Hostile Activities of the Military Intelligence Officers of the Adversary … 22
Iu. PETKIAVICHIUS The Struggle Against Clerical Extremism – Our Important Task … 27
A. ARKHIPOV and Iu. GROZDOV On the Practice of Exposing in the Press the Intelligence and Sabotage Activities of the Adversary Using the Sea-Based Channels … 36
V. MELNIKOV and L. KULIABICHEV There Was Prophylactics and There Was Recidivism … 40
V. VASILEV and A. BOCHKOV How A Nationalist Group Was Decomposed … 44
Iu. CHUFAROVSKII, V. KANEVETS, and A. SHARMAR On the Trail of the Anonymous … 49
G. MAGOMEDOV and G. ABUEV The Illegal Publication Presses Eliminated … 53
V. LUTSENKO and Iu. PYDIN The Demise of the Doers of the “VCR Business” … 57
I. KULINICH and V. GAMZA The All-Around Assessment of the Personality Helped the Success of the Prophylactics … 62
A. UDOVENKO and A. POGORELII The Nazi Collaborators Found the Hiding Place in the USA … 65
A. TSARKOV … Thanks to the Vigilance of a Citizen … 68
Investigation and Inquiry
I. TKACHUK On the Typical Approaches in the Investigation of the Loss of Secret Documents … 71
V. RYBAK and O. CHUMAK On the Use of the Agents Inside the Prison Cell … 78
Training and Education of the Personnel
D. VASHKOVIAK and V. MARYCHEV The Education of the Personnel on the Basis of the Revolutionary and War Traditions … 86
V. PONOMAREV Some Specific Features in Counting the Number of Years Required for Retirement of the Military Personnel of the KGB Who Served in the Units of the MVD … 89
Reference Bibliography
I. PANOV and B. DOLZHIKOV A Useful Handbook for Practical Work … 92
Published by the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR Named After F. E. Dzerzhinsky … 95
Great film review! @thedeadhandbook
"We should learn a lesson anew from this film, that the weapons will not go away on their own. It takes people with vision and political willpower—courage and guts—like Reagan and Gorbachev."
My review of “The Brink of War” about the remarkable summit at Reykjavik in 1986. armscontrol.org/act/2026-09/…
The 1st edition book cover of the Soviet #spyfiction novel Mr. Kochek's Advertising Agency (1970) (note that the last word in the title reads "Cheka") & the first page of the English translation by #CIA-affiliated JRPS released on March 24, 1972.
"Russian security forces already absorbed a #counterespionage mindset as early as the Russo-Japanese war." @AndreiSoldatov ⬇️
The first full-fledged Russian #spyfiction story "Staff Captain Rybnikov" by Aleksandr Kuprin (1906) dealt with a Japanese spy.
foreignaffairs.com/russia/pr…


















