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Soviet soldier taking a photograph of another soldier in Red Square, Moscow, 1959

Eastern Europe

Soviet Union

"The Bundeshaus (Federal Building) in Bonn, West Germany, May 1961. "

Western Europe

West Germany

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United States

The Palace of the Republic (Palast der Republik) in Berlin

Eastern Europe

East Germany

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Western Europe

France

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Western Europe

Great Britain

Nuclear Proliferation

Mikhail Gorbachev, 1986

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich

1931- 2022

Berlin Wall between Mitte and Kreuzberg

Berlin Wall

West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, 1971.

Brandt, Willy

1913- 1992

Nikita Khrushchev at the UNGA, 1962.

Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich

1894- 1971

Executive Committee of the National Security Committee during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Photograph of Gorbachev-Bush summit at Malta, 1989

End of the Cold War

Aerial photograph of CIA headquarters

United States. Central Intelligence Agency

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Soviet Foreign Policy

Official portrait for President George H.W. Bush, 1989.

Bush, George H.W.

1924- 2018

Photograph of Helmut Kohl, 1982.

Kohl, Helmut

1930- 2017

Euromissiles Crisis

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Documents

November 22, 1972	Notes about a Conversation with the USSR's Ambassador, Comrade Malzev, on 22 November 1972 Memorandum of Conversation between East German officials and the Soviet ambassador to Finland on the subject of the seating arrangements and participant designations for the upcoming CSCE conference
June 2007	On Human Rights. Folder 51. The Chekist Anthology. Outlines the KGB’s response to the USSR’s signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975. The accords obligated signatories to respect their citizens’ human rights. This gave Soviet dissidents and westerners leverage in demanding that the USSR end persecution on the basis of religious or political beliefs. Some of the KGB’s active measures included the establishment of a charitable fund dedicated to helping victims of imperialism and capitalism, and the fabrication of a letter from a Ukrainian group to FRG President Walter Scheel describing human rights violations in West Germany. The document also mentions that the Soviet Ministry of Defense obtained an outline of the various European powers’ positions on human rights issues as presented at the March 1977 meeting of the European Economic Community in London from the Italian Foreign Ministry. The KGB also initiated Operation “Raskol” [“Schism”], which ran between 1977 and 1980. This operation included active measures to discredit Soviet dissidents Andrei Sakharov, Yelena Bonner, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, measures designed to drive a wedge between the US and its democratic allies, and measures intended to convince the US government that continued support for the dissident movement did nothing to harm the position of the USSR.
June 2007	KGB Practices. Folder 70. The Chekist Anthology. This entry contains brief descriptions of a variety of KGB operations carried out between the early 1960’s and late 1970’s, and provides a sampling of the kinds of operations that were common in that era. Operation “Grom” [“Thunder”] involved fabricating a US State Department memo on Soviet citizens’ inclination towards treason. The memo discussed ways in which the US could exploit this tendency to its advantage. It was published on the front page of the British newspaper “Daily Express.” A pamphlet created by the KGB and attributed to the terrorist organization ‘BAS’ (South Tyrolean Liberation Committee) was introduced as evidence in the trial of BAS leader Norbert Burger in Austria. In July 1976 the KGB residency in Singapore spied on Chess Grandmaster Boris Spassky during his visit to Singapore, and noted in its report that he spent much of his free time on the tennis court. The KGB created and disseminated a letter, ostensibly from nationalist Ukrainian emigrants, protesting the French government’s cooperation with Zionists, and threatening reprisals against French Zionists. The KGB residency in Austria organized operation “Bonga” [“Bigwig”] in which forged letters from Chairman Mao were produced. These letters indicated that Mao himself had essentially organized the opposition to Hua Guofeng’s reforms, and that Hua might lead China to a revisionist course. In March 1977, the newspaper of the Austrian Communist Party printed a translation of a secret Chilean document in which the Chilean secret police asked Gen. Augusto Pinochet for additional funds to carry out undercover operations abroad. Pinochet’s reply contained a harsh rebuke for the request, and a strong admonishment against engaging in clandestine operations abroad. Mitrokhin did not mention where the document came from, nor did he state whether it was authentic or a forgery.
June 2007	Counter-Intelligence Protection, 1971. Folder 97. The Chekist Anthology. Information on KGB counter-intelligence surveillance of Soviet tourists vacationing in other socialist countries who had contact with foreigners. The document states that Western intelligence services organized “friendship meetings” through tourist firms to meet Soviet citizens, gauge their loyalty to the USSR, and obtain political, economic, and military intelligence. KGB counter-intelligence paid particular attention to Soviet citizens who were absent from their groups, took side trips to different cities or regions, made telephone calls to foreigners, or engaged in “ideologically harmful” conversations in the presence of foreigners. Mirokhin regrets that the KGB underestimated the strengths and methodology of Western intelligence services. He concludes that the KGB should have adopted some of the same methods, and targeted Western tourists visiting socialist countries.
March 11, 1980	Letter to the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Chairman of the Socialist International, Willy Brandt A letter from Brezhnev to Willy Brandt before their meeting in Madrid. Discusses detente and the disarmament.
December 18, 1974	Notes on a Conversation with the Head of the FRG's Delegation, Dr. Blech, During Lunch on 18 December 1974 A memorandum of a conversation between Klaus Blech and Siegfried Bock, regarding the recognition of frontiers component of the CSCE negotiations.
July 6, 1981	Conversation between SPD chairman Willy Brandt and the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev on 30 June 1981 in Moscow Memorandum of a conversation between Brandt and Brezhnev. Among other things, Brezhnev focused on the increased hostility between members of the international community. He pointed to debate over missiles in Europe as an example of that tension.
April 7, 1952	Conversation between Joseph V. Stalin and SED leadership The second conversation between Stalin and the SED leadership during their trip to Moscow in April 1952. Stalin discusses the political and military situation in East Germany and asks about the status of economic development in the GDR. The SED delegation asks Stalin to approve the transfer of raw materials to East Germany.
May 8, 1953	USSR Foreign Ministry Draft Memorandum, 'On Further Soviet Government Measures Pertaining to the German Question' Memorandum from the Soviet Foreign Affairs Ministry on Soviet foreign policy options with regard to the German Question. The memorandum looks at the effects on Soviet policy toward the western powers in the context of the Postdam conference and at the future state of the Soviet-East German relations.
September 4, 1985	Letter by the Chairman of the SPD, Brandt, to the General Secretary of the CC of the CPSU, Gorbachev Brandt shares his opinion with Gorbachev, that a constructive American reply to the Soviet moratorium can be, materially and psychologically, a first important step toward curtailing the arms race and toward a reasonable relationship for the two world powers.