“Happy Christmas, Your Excellency!”
In the archival files of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, along with agent reports, certificates, plans and instructions, there are ordinary everyday letters from the objects of operational cultivation, photographs, and postcards. In particular, there are many greetings on birthdays, national and religious holidays, such as Christmas. Reading these materials allows us to fill in the gaps in the biographies of figures of the Ukrainian liberation movement, to understand the motives of their actions, relationships with partners in the struggle and opponents, family and friends, and ultimately to see what they wished each other during periods of hardship, war, discouragement and despair.
12/24/2024
Yurii Sheveliov. The nkvd/kgb’s “Linguistic” Studies
The archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine have studied new materials on the prominent Ukrainian linguist, Slavicist, and literary critic Yurii Sheveliov (December 16, 1908 – April 12, 2002). They complement previously published research on the life and work of the scholar based on declassified documents, and shed light on the circumstances of the first manifestation of the nkvd’s operational interest in him, as well as the chekists’ targeted attention to his linguistic works throughout the decades that followed.
12/17/2024
UHVR’s Foreign Mission. “America Will Help Us!”
In the late 1940s, the leading figures of the Ukrainian national liberation movement came to the conclusion that in order to preserve the lives of people and forces in further struggle for Ukraine's independence, it was necessary to change the strategy and tactics. One of the elements of this was the decision to turn for help to the strongest democracies of the world of the time. Along with conducting joint special operations, this cooperation was to be crucial in providing moral support for the liberation struggle, drawing attention to the Ukrainian issue, and conveying to the world community the understanding that Ukrainians and russians are not one community, not one people, as many people abroad believed due to a lack of understanding of all aspects of history. New declassified documents from the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine tell us this.
12/11/2024
Denys Kvitkovskyi, Ukrainian public and political figure, lawyer, political writer, publisher, historian, head of the OUN (m) (1977–1979)
Among the archival documents of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine regarding the figures of the Ukrainian national liberation movement, there are interesting statements, quotations, testimonies, reminiscences about their participation in the struggle for Ukraine’s statehood. Based on these materials, we can trace and assess the role of prominent Ukrainians in the creation of the state, their contribution to Ukraine's independence and struggle for its restoration.
11/30/2024
“Prevent Information About the Famine in Ukraine from Leaking Abroad”
In the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, there are documents which show how in the 1980s the kgb of the Ukrainian ssr had been monitoring very closely the Ukrainian diaspora’s activity aimed at drawing the attention of the world community to the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine and had been trying to prevent it in every possible way. Circulars and instructions from Kyiv to regional kgb departments told what agent-operational measures should be taken “to counter hostile actions by foreign national centers”.
11/23/2024
“To Provoke a Negative Attitude to Ukrainian Emigrants”
Declassified documents from the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine allow us to learn about hitherto unknown dirty methods from the arsenal of the kgb of the ussr, which were once used against Ukrainian emigrants. Among them – provoking unfriendly feelings, negative attitude and enmity towards emigrants in the countries of their compact residence. This is stated in the kgb’s administrative documents, plans, reports, and messages. The ways in which it was done now cause indignation and revulsion.
11/15/2024
Father Vasyl Kushnir. The First President of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee
The abbreviation UCC has always appeared in operational documents of the mgb/kgb of the ussr alongside the phrases “anti-soviet activities”, “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists”, and “irreconcilable enemies of the soviet union”. Similar epithets and comparisons were used against the activists who created and developed this powerful social and political organization. Among them was Father Vasyl Kushnir, the UCC’s first President and longtime leader (1940-1952, 1957-1971), President of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians (1967-1969, 1973-1978), a religious and public figure who consistently united the Ukrainian diaspora and directed it to support the national liberation movement in the historical homeland and the revival of Ukraine's independence.
11/6/2024
A Knight of Malta – Subject to the nkvd’s operational cultivation
In the 1920s and 1930s, all prominent representatives of the national liberation movement involved in the creation of Ukrainian statehood, who did not stop fighting for the Ukrainian cause even abroad, were subjects to the gpu/nkvd’s operational cultivation. The chekists’ interest in the descendant of an ancient Lithuanian princely family, historian, diplomat, philosopher, and Ukrainian public and political figure Ivan Tokarzhevskyi-Karashevych was no exception. This case also acquired a special color because the person was an Honorary Knight of the Order of Malta.
10/25/2024
Osyp Tiushka. 40 Years With Stepan Bandera
He was one of Stepan Bandera's closest friends. They became friends while studying at Stryi Gymnasium. Together, they were members of the leadership of Plast and the OUN, shared similar ideological beliefs and views on the national liberation movement, were imprisoned in Hitler's Sachsenhausen concentration camp at the same time, jointly developed the structure of the OUN Revolutionary after World War II, and were subjects to the kgb operational cultivations. But the role and place in those kgb plans and activities were different for each of them. Declassified documents from the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine tell us about this.
10/15/2024
“...And You Will Pass On to Future Generations Your Name Shrouded in Immortal Glory”
“The UPA is the armed force of the Ukrainian people. Fighting in the ranks of the UPA is an honorable duty of every citizen of Ukraine”. These phrases are very often found in instructions, orders, proclamations, and leaflets of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which have been preserved in the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. By doing so, the leading figures of the Ukrainian national liberation movement fostered respect for their own army and those who with weapons in his hands stood up to defend their native land from all sorts of invaders. Referring to these documents allows us to understand what gave Ukrainians strength in that difficult struggle against the enemy.
10/1/2024
