{"id":84834,"date":"2024-01-25T15:50:59","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T04:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=84834"},"modified":"2024-01-25T16:00:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T05:00:06","slug":"remembering-vasili-mitrokhin-a-man-of-remarkable-commitment-and-courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/remembering-vasili-mitrokhin-a-man-of-remarkable-commitment-and-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Vasili Mitrokhin: \u2018A man of remarkable commitment and courage\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tuesday [23 January] marked 20 years since the passing away, in exile, of an unpretentious archivist\u2014and one of the most remarkable and consequential figures in international espionage\u2014Vasili Mitrokhin.<\/p>\n

A KGB officer for more than three decades, Mitrokhin\u2019s defection to the UK in 1992, masterminded by the Secret Intelligence Service, delivered an extensive personal archive of hand-written notes made of KGB documents accessed before his retirement. The process was aided by his responsibility for transferring First Chief Directorate [foreign intelligence] records from central Moscow to a new headquarters, between 1972 and 1982.<\/p>\n

Mitrokhin\u2019s defection was acknowledged in 1999 upon publication of the first<\/a> of two books co-authored with historian Christopher Andrew. Reaction to the audacity of Mitrokhin\u2019s enterprise and to the archive\u2019s contents was rhapsodic. Former KGB general Oleg Kalugin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When I opened Mitrokhin\u2019s book for the first time, I was stunned by the accuracy of his descriptions of many intelligence operations I had been personally involved in… Mitrokhin\u2019s book has become for me an encyclopaedia of sorts, a true treasure trove of information about the cold war times.<\/p>\n

The FBI called the archive: \u2018the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source\u2019. The CIA described it as \u2018the biggest CI (counter-intelligence) bonanza of the post-war period\u2019.<\/p>\n

After an inquiry, the UK Parliament\u2019s Intelligence & Security Committee concluded that Mitrokhin:<\/p>\n

\u2018[i]s a man of remarkable commitment and courage, who risked imprisonment or death in his determination that the truth should be told about the real nature of the KGB and their activities, which he believed were betraying the interests of his own country and people. He succeeded in this, and we wish to record formally our admiration for his achievement.\u2019<\/p>\n

But beyond initial surprise, and sheer volume of records, why was Mitrokhin important? Why remember this humble archivist?<\/p>\n

In one sense the answer\u2019s obvious. Mitrokhin revealed the extraordinary extent to, and confirmed the egregious nature of, Soviet intelligence operations and interference globally during the Cold War.<\/p>\n

Rather immediately, this led to identification of historical KGB spies in the US and UK. Melita Norwood (codename HOLA)\u2014who betrayed British nuclear secrets and was memorialised in newspaper headline as \u2018the spy who came in from the coop\u2019\u2014is well known. A more pressing example, sparking successful prosecution, was former National Security Agency (NSA) officer Robert Lipka.<\/p>\n

It also served to underscore the appalling behaviour of the KGB and its antecedents (mirrored by its successors!)\u2014characterised by violence, cynicism and a contempt for truth. Just a few examples from Volume I (aka The Sword and the Shield<\/em>) suffice:<\/p>\n