Did Russia Bury Nukes Along the US East Coast?
You’re not going to like the answer…
File this under odd Cold War history that very few Americans know about — and could actually make an incredible spy thriller.
Unfortunately, this story is not only true but still has relevance today given the current frosty relations between the US and the Russian Federation.
During the Cold War, KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin secretly made handwritten notes of archival KGB documents between 1972 and 1984.
He did this when he supervised the move of the archive of KGB’s foreign intelligence department First Chief Directorate from the Lubyanka Building to their new headquarters at Yasenevo.
He would later approach the CIA in Latvia and offer this information in exchange for travel out of the USSR, but they rejected it as possible fakes.
Mitrokhin then turned to MI6 in the UK who arranged for his defection out of Russia.
The resulting windfall of documents painted a multi-decade picture of KGB operations in nearly every Western country.
By the way, The Sword and the Shield — The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB book by Chris Andrew was required reading in my international relations — Russian studies program.
