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Mitrokhin, Vasili

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Soviet Union. Committee for State Security (KGB)

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Documents

November 5, 1974	Border security agreement between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and rules simplifying crossing of the Czechoslovak-Soviet border for citizens of the two countries This protocol between the border security forces of Czechoslovakia and the USSR is aimed at facilitating the exchange of bilateral information between the two forces (per the agreement of March, 1961), discussing the findings of both security organizations from May 1972 to October 1974 and coordinating a new border security agreement. This document also includes data on telephone connections in the border regions. The two delegations agreed upon rules concerning the simplified border passage of Czechoslovak and Soviet citizens.
February 22, 1978	Agreement between the Soviet and Czechoslovak Interior Ministries for the year 1978 The two parties agree to worker exchanges in the areas including scientific information, and computational processing. Details on sending Czechoslovak workers and state security school students to various state schools in the Soviet Union to study politics, foreign policy, fire-fighting techniques, engineering, criminal investigation and the Soviet. The criminology departments of the two ministries pledge to exchange tactics, methods and expertise. Officials of the two ministries agree to exchange information on the gravest problems in their country every six months.
January 23, 1976	Protocol on cooperation between the Interior Ministries of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union in 1976 This agreement provides for short visits of employees of the Czechoslovak and Soviet Interior Ministries to the other country in order to study and exchange information on a variety of topics, including informational systems, mechanized and automated systems of computational technology and criminology. Details on recreational visits for employees of the two Ministries and conference dates are also given. An exchange of publications is finalized, with the works listed by title and number of copies; these documents relate to security, criminology and statistics.
February 10, 1972	Agreement about Cooperation between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Committee for State Security under the USSR Council of Ministers The Czechoslovak Ministry of the Interior and Soviet KGB agree to coordinate security efforts and bilaterally exchange information obtained by the security organs of both states along the lines of politics, military business, agriculture, technology and science. The two parties agree to share intelligence and counter-intelligence collected in the aforementioned areas.
June 2007	Actions to Promote Discord. Folder 90. The Chekist Anthology. Contains information on active measures undertaken by the KGB residency in Ankara, Turkey during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The residency carried out active measures to destabilize Turkey’s military regime, undermine US military personnel’s sense of security through the publication of threatening leaflets, inflame the rivalry between Greece and Turkey, and foster anti-American sentiments. Mitrokhin provides detailed descriptions of several operations involving altered or fabricated personal correspondence, as well as newspaper articles written by, or ‘inspired’ by KGB agents or confidential contacts. The KGB residency claimed that these operations resulted in, among other things, the removal of Foreign Minister Nuri Birgi from office, and the expulsion of several American diplomats for allegedly interfering with Turkish elections.
June 2007	Agent Reports. Procedural guidance on the form of agent reports in criminal cases. Folder 10. The Chekist Anthology. This document outlines the limits and requirements of an agent’s engagement in the implementation of given objectives. The limits of an agent’s participation in a criminal investigation are set by an operative responsible for a particular case. Taking into account concrete circumstances of each assignment, the operative determines proper format of an agent report in order to fully detail all relevant information. The primary requirement of agent reports is to capture the circumstances, connections, and function of persons and events under investigation. Agent reports must be comprehensive, complete and objective. In criminal cases, every agent must conduct a deep examination of one’s lifestyle, behavior, habits, psychological condition, peer pressure, facial expressions and intonation. Agent reports are attached to an agent’s Working and Personal files. When an agent is relocated to a different KGB center, the reports included in the Working file remain in the original center for 10 years, while his or her Personal file is sent to a new location, where a new Working file is created.
June 2007	The Telegram "Dogma." Folder 50. The Chekist Anthology According to Mitrokhin, in 1979 KGB headquarters sent a telegram to its residencies abroad stating that Soviet intelligentsia, the American embassy in Moscow, and foreign correspondents who were accredited to work in the Soviet Union, had been holding anti-soviet activities. The telegram text, which is provided by Mitrokhin in his entry, states that Kopalev, Chukovskaya, Kornilov, Vladimov, and Vojnovich were expelled from the U.S.S.R. Union of Writers for their anti-socialist publications. However, after this incident they started to gain influence among Soviet writers and many anti-soviet materials were published, which led to publication of the almanac “Metropol.” The American embassy assisted the publication by organizing events with influential intelligentsia of the West who inspired Soviet writers in favor of capitalism. Mitrokhin states that KGB officials ordered all residencies to immediately stop these activities. It was planned to publish provocative materials about all Western supporters of the almanac. KGB residencies in the West were in charge of collecting these materials.
June 2007	Association of the United Postwar Immigrants. Folder 52. The Chekist Anthology. In this entry Mitrokhin provides an example of methods the KGB used to make foreign intelligence services distrust Soviet anti-socialist organizations. Mitrokhin cites the case of the Association of the United Soviet Postwar Immigrants. According to Mitrokhin, the head of the organization was a former citizen of the Soviet Union, but after WWII he stayed in Western Germany and had been actively promoting anti-socialist ideology among immigrants. Mitrokhin does not provide his real name, but uses his KGB codename “Konstantinov.” According to Mitrokhin, in February of 1963 the KGB sent counterfeit documents to West German counter-intelligence stating that “Konstantinov” had been an active KGB spy since WWII. The KGB also sent letters in the name of Association of United Soviet Postwar Immigrants to National Alliance of Russian Solidarists stating that the officials of the latter organization are “politically bankrupt” and that they were no longer able to promote anti-socialist ideology. The KGB residency in Belgium prepared a flyer with false information stating that the Association of United Soviet Postwar Immigrants was a corrupt institution whose president used its funds for personal use. According to Mitrokhin, the reputation of the Association of United Soviet Postwar Immigrants was destroyed and no longer remained influential.
June 2007	Kompromats. Folder 34. The Chekist Anthology. June 01 2007 - In this entry Mitrokhin explains the importance of having kompromats (a form of grey propaganda used in information warfare against opponents in business and politics) for Soviet anti-socialist activists. Mitrokhin provides two examples of KGB kompromats that played significant roles in repressing oppositionists. In late 1960s the Ukrainian nationalist movement had been growing in popularity. Ivanchenko was one of the radicals who allowed himself to publicly criticize Soviet policies and claimed that Ukraine faced Russification. He organized a club that promoted anti-socialist philosophy. All these facts of his biography were documented by the KGB. Mitrokhin states that Ivanchenko knew many influential Ukrainian nationalists very well. His connections were critical to the KGB. According to Mitrokhin, in 1970 he was blackmailed by the KGB. They used a kompromat: either Ivanchenko became their undercover agent and helped them to fight the anti-socialist movement or he would be excluded from the university and charged for his ideological crimes. Ivanchenko was recruited and his new codename was “Nikolai.” In another example of kompromat Mitrokhin states that in the second half of 1972 Jewish population in Odessa started an opposition movement against the Soviet immigration policies. One of their leaders, Emmanuel Pekar, was once arrested at the Odessa market for selling watches of foreign origin; however he was not charged. Mitrokhin states that Pekar was offered a choice—to become a KGB undercover agent in the Jewish community or go to trial for speculation. Pekar was recruited and his new codename was “Milan.”
June 2007	The Conrad Case. Folder 72. The Chekist Anthology In this folder Mitrokhin describes the work experience of German KGB agent Conrad (codename “Gregor”), his experience as a spy, involvement with communist parties in different countries, and activities as the head of military sabotage groups in Western Europe.