Table of Contents
Operativnyi arkhiv Sluzhby vneshnei razvedki RF (Arkhiv SVR
Rossii)
[Operational Archive of the Foreign Intelligence Service]
Agency: Sluzhba vneshnei razvedki RF (SVR Rossii)
[Foreign Intelligence Service]
Address: (Press and Public Affairs Bureau): 119034, Moscow,
ul. Ostozhenka, 51/10
Telephone: (495) 247-19-38, 245-33-68; Fax: (495) 247-05-29
SVR Chief: Viacheslav Ivanovich Trubnikov
Chief, Press and Public Affairs Bureau: Boris Nikolaevich Labusov
Press-Secretary to the SVR Chief: Tat'iana Viktorovna Samolis
Chief of the Archival Directorate: Sergei Olegovich PaninPrevious Names
- VIII.1991-XII.1991 - Arkhiv Tsentral'noi sluzhby razvedki SSSR
[Archive of the Intelligence Service of the USSR]
- 1954-VIII.1991 - Arkhiv Pervogo glavnogo upravleniia KGB SSSR
(Arkhiv PGU)
[Archive of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB USSR]
- 1941-1954 - Arkhiv Pervogo upravleniia NKVD MVD SSSR (Arkhiv PU)
[Archive of the First Directorate NKVD MVD SSSR]
- 1920-1941 - Arkhiv Inostrannogo otdela (INO) VChK GPU OGPU GUGB
(Arkhiv INO)
[Archive of the Foreign Division VChK GPU OGPU GUGB]
About the Arkhiv SVR Rossii
The Foreign Intelligence Service was formed as a separate agency
in the November 1991 reorganization of the KGB, and that new agency took over the records
of the foreign intelligence operations of the former KGB, namely the First Chief
Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, and its predecessors. According to the 1996 RF
Law "On the Foreign Intelligence Service," the SVR and other agencies dealing with
foreign intelligence are given increased authority over their own records, although
theoretically, documentation from this archive that is considered to have a
scientific-historical significance, is to be transferred to Rosarkhiv. A few limited
categories of documents are now being transferred to RGVA (see B-8).
Access
The archive is not open for normal public research, since its
holdings are considered by law as state secrets. Answers to specific questions, and
occasionally copies of selected declassified documents on specified subjects, are
communicated on the basis of written inquiry. A December 1995 interview with the Chief of
the Archival Division makes it clear that researchers should not expect many transfers or
revelations from SVR archives. Some limited documents on special topics have been
declassified and made available under special publication agreements.
Recent Published Descriptions
There is no published guide to holdings in the archive.
- Poleshchuk, Andrei. "Arkhivy
rossiiskoi razvedki: Dostup k nimmozhet poluchit' daleko ne kazhdyi." (interview with SVR
Archival Division Chief A. P. Belozerov). Nezavisimaia
gazeta, 20 December 1995, no. 144 (1071). p. 6. (Lib: DLC; IU; MH) .
The first revealing
press interview with the SVR archival chief regarding the functions and holdings of the
archive, justifying the lack of research access and warning the public not to expect many
revelations.
- Comrade Kryuchkov's Instructions: Top
Secret Files on KGB Foreign Operations, 1975-1985. Edited by Christopher Andrew and
Oleg Gordievsky. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993. xviii, 240 p. + plates. (Lib:
DLC; MH)
British Eds.: Instructions from the Centre: Top Secret Files on KGB Foreign Operations,
1975-1985. Edited by Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky. London: Hodder &
Stoughton, 1991. xv, 238 p. + [8] plates. (Lib: DLC; MH)
id. London: Sceptre, 1993 (c 1991). 327 p. + [8] plates.(Lib: DLC; MH).
The volume itself
features a sensational sampling of top-secret documents from the KGB First Chief
Directorate (foreign intelligence), reflecting operations during the decade when Gorbachev
rose to power, with helpful commentary and annotations, all of which provide a unique
orientation for researchers. The documents earlier appeared in Britain under the
alternative title. Appendix A, "The KGB Files and Archives" (pp. 225-30),
provides an orientation regarding KGB archival practices. Appendix B, "Residency
Records and Communications with the Centre" (pp. 231-35), a directive from First
Directorate Chief, Vladimir Kriuchkov, describes procedures for reports to Moscow from
foreign residencies and explains the levels of security classification. Part of the
appended material presented in the Stanford publication was initially published in article
form by Oleg Gordievsky, "The KGB Archives," Intelligence and National
Security 6:1 (1991): 7-14. The Stanford volume does not include the documents in the
1992 London supplement.
- More 'Instructions from the Centre':
Top Secret Files on KGB Global Operations, 1975-1985. Edited by Oleg Gordievsky and
Christopher Andrew. London : Frank Cass, 1992. xii, 130 p. (Lib: DLC; IU; MH)
Initially published as a separate volume in the series, Intelligence and National
Security, vol. 7 (1992).
Includes additional
documents, supplementing the earlier collection, but which were not included in the
Stanford edition.
- Gordievsky, Oleg, and Andrew, Christopher.
KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev. New York:
Harper Collins, 1990. 776 p. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1990. (Lib: DLC; IU; MH)
A popularized but
non-authoritative history of Soviet foreign intelligence operations. Although not
specifically dealing with the archives, the volume includes some information about
them. Includes detailed charts of the institutional transformation and internal
organization of the successive Soviet intelligence agencies. The extensive bibliography
includes references to still- classified Russian accounts.
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