The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB
The archive consists of thousands of pages of notes and transcripts smuggled out of the Soviet Union by Mitrokhin when he defected to the United Kingdom in 1992 [1, 2]. These documents provided an unprecedented look into Soviet intelligence operations during the Cold War [2]. Why the "2021" Interest? While the primary books summarizing the archive— The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West and The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB and the World mitrokhin archive pdf 2021
: Beyond the West, the archive details Soviet influence in India (described as a "playground" for agents) and the Middle East, showcasing the global scale of the Cold War intelligence war. The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive
The Mitrokhin Archive is a vast collection of notes and documents that detail the history and activities of the KGB from the 1940s through the 1990s. Vasily Mitrokhin, a former major in the KGB, painstakingly copied these documents by hand over a period of years before defecting to the United Kingdom. The archive includes information on KGB operations worldwide, its structure, personnel, and much more. While the primary books summarizing the archive— The
