Mitrokhin Archive
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"The Mitrokhin Archive" refers to the collected notes taken by Vasily Mitrokhin over 30 years. The notes contain Soviet intelligence operations details obtained from KGB archives. Mitrokhin was a Major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service and the First Chief Directorate of the KGB. He co-wrote several books with Christopher Andrew. "The Mitrokhin Archive" represents a major body of historical evidence regarding Soviet operations and personnel assets during the Cold War.
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[edit] Books
- Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, Basic Books (1999), hardcover, ISBN 0-465-00310-9; trade paperback (September, 2000), ISBN 0-465-00312-5
- Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew, The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, Basic Books (2005) hardcover, 677 pages ISBN 0-476-00311-7
- Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7
[edit] Online library
The Questia Online Library hosts The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. (Login required) The entire work is complete with linked footnotes and references.
[edit] Revelations
Among other revelations, the papers disclosed that more than half of Soviet weapons were based on designs stolen from the United States, that the KGB had tapped the telephones of American officials such as Henry Kissinger, and it had spies in almost all the country's big defence contractors. In France, at least 35 senior politicians were shown to have worked for the KGB during the Cold War. In Germany, the KGB was shown to have infiltrated all the major political parties, the judiciary and the police.
Spies exposed as a result of the defection include:
- Melita Norwood
- John Symonds (code-named Scot)
- Tom Driberg (code-named Lepage), a former elected Labour Party Member of Parliament who had visited Moscow with Guy Burgess.
- Raymond Fletcher (code-named Peter), a former elected Labour Party Member of Parliament.
- Robert Lipka, former clerk at the US NSA. [1] Lipka denied his guilt until the very last moments before his trial was to begin when it was revealed that the prime witness against him was a former KGB archivist with proof of his relation with the KGB.
- Claude Estier, former leader of the French Socialist Party and confidant of former president François Mitterrand
National leaders revealed to have cooperated with the KGB include:
- Salvador Allende, who, aside from his more visible role as a friend of Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro, took counsel and advice from his KGB case worker to reform Chile militarily and economically along lines suggested by the Soviet Union. [2]
KGB operations revealed in the files include:
- attempts to incite racial hatred in the U.S.
- bugging MI6 stations in the Middle East
- bugging Henry Kissinger when he was serving as US Secretary of State.
- leaked documents from defence contractors including Boeing, Fairchild, General Dynamics, IBM and Lockheed Corporation, providing the Russians with detailed information about the Trident, Peacekeeper and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Accused but unconfirmed were:
- Richard Clements, ally of Neil Kinnock, former leader of the British Labour Party, who denied the allegation, saying that it was an over-inflated claim and "complete nonsense".
- The report of the center-right party member of an Italian parliamentary commission has concluded that the former Soviet Union was behind the 1981 assassination attempt on the late Pope John Paul II
- Carlos Fonseca Amador of the Sandinista National Liberation Front was recruited by the KGB. [3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ New York Times, 25 Sept 1997.
- ^ The Times, 19 Sept 2005.
- ^ Hearings of the U.S. House of Representatives, 26 Oct 1999.
[edit] External links
- Summary of press coverage
- Doubts about the material by B. Raman, Rediff.com India Ltd.
- Book Review by Getty, American Historical Review.