Filip Kovacevic

Great crowd last night at the Commonwealth Club of California for my talk on #KGB institutional culture & my new book #KGBLiterati. Q&A for almost an hour! @socintelhist.bsky.social

#Spy Sites of San Francisco The old Metro Movie Theater, now Equinox Gym, on 2055 Union Street. According to Mitrokhin, #KGB designated this location as a meeting place with their American contacts from 1962 to 1968.

"How #KGB Used Illegals inside the Soviet Union" My NEW article based on the Mitrokhin files. ⬇️ The link: tinyurl.com/49n6euk2

If you are interested in the searchable documentary record of Soviet #spy operations & personalities in the United States, I highly recommend the Friday Archive. 43 collections/ 1,130 files/ 147,000 pages. The link: fridayarchive.org

I enjoyed reading Roger Hall's entertaining #OSS memoir You're Stepping on My Cloak & Dagger, first published in 1957, in which, by the way, Bill Casey, the future #CIA director, plays a prominent role. Now I look forward to reading Hall's only #spy fiction novel 19.

A “trace” is a summary information on a given individual that an intelligence service keeps in its records. I've recently started a short article series "Top Secret: Traces from #KGB Files." Here's the link for the first 4 installments: thechekistmonitor.blogspot.com/2026/09/fili...

Happy 96th birthday to my grandmother! She was born when Herbert Hoover was U.S. president and my favorite place for archival research is the Reading Room of the Hoover Library & Archives at @stanforduniversity.bsky.social.

"Russian security forces already absorbed a #counterespionage mindset as early as the Russo-Japanese war" @andreisoldatov.bsky.social The first full-fledged Russian #spyfiction story "Staff Captain Rybnikov" by Aleksandr Kuprin (1906) concerned a Japanese spy www.foreignaffairs.com/russia/price...

My book #KGBLiterati made it to the University of San Francisco's Library "Hall of Fame." #spyfiction #coldwar

Excellent research! Highly recommend. Rolf Sohlman was a Swedish ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1964. The Swedish Security Service (SAPO) investigated his suspected links to a retired senior #KGB counterintelligence officer. susanneberger.substack.com/p/sohlman-ne...

Honored to have Vin Arthey, the distinguished biographer of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel/William Fisher, review my book #KGBLiterati in the latest issue of the Scotland-Russia Forum Magazine.

A significant research contribution on Soviet intelligence illegals in the U.S. & Canada by my colleague Kevin Riehle. This table offers the most comprehensive list compiled so far & includes both #KGB and #GRU spies. ⬇️ The article link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

From my ongoing research of #KGB files: A Fake Defector's Tale "The cover stories and technologies might be different, but the intentions and tactics have remained the same." Here's the link: tinyurl.com/mr2vkvwh

Very grateful to @martindbbrown.bsky.social for a wonderfully engaging review of my book #KGBLiterati. A thoughtful meditation on the social significance of #spy fiction. Highly recommend! @socintelhist.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

Exclusive: My new article based on the original handwritten class notes of a junior #KGB officer. ⬇️ Check out what #KGB said about #CIA in a classified setting: tinyurl.com/ye25xec2

How many Soviet ambassadors were undercover #KGB officers of the active reserve? Here's one documented case: Andrei Yefimovich Kovalyov, Soviet ambassador to Finland, 1965-1970. Below is the biographical information on Kovalyov from Nikita Petrov's book Those Who Led State Security, 1941-1954.

I love this new interview about my book #KGBLiterati on Eye Spy: The Intelligence History Podcast engagingly hosted by @stanforduniversity.bsky.social PhD student Krystel von Kumberg. @uoftpress.bsky.social Give it a listen: tinyurl.com/pjvvtdms

In his memoir Washington Station, former #KGB intelligence officer Yuri Shvets wrote that the Second Chief Directorate (counterintelligence) was known for its attitude: "Give us a body & we'll always find treason in it." Today, its successor #FSB is no different.

"Notwithstanding #CIA efforts, Western decision-makers have downplayed, or even ignored, the contributions of #KGBLiterati to Russia’s national identity construction at their peril. My book brings them out of the shadows for all to see. And take action." www.amazon.com/KGB-Literati...

Very much enjoyed talking about my book #KGBLiterati on the Spionpodden podcast! In the Soviet Union, #KGB wrote itself into the imagination of a nation. Find out how they did it. The link: soundcloud.com/search?q=Ep9...

I've just given an interview on #KGB legacy & imprint on the contemporary Russian intelligence & security services for the Czech News Agency. Use your browser to translate from Czech. The link: ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/ruske...

How did #KGB detect spies? My new article based on the secret internal correspondence between the Higher School of #KGB in Moscow and the Lithuanian #KGB HQ in Vilnius. The link: tinyurl.com/yc63sp8b

Presenting my research @stanforduniversity.bsky.social on May 30, 2026.

One of the largest & longest-lasting #GULAG uprisings took place in the Stepnoi camp in Kazakhstan 72 years ago (May-June 1954). It's described by Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago. Here's is a secret 22-page #MVD report on the uprising: kgbveikla.lt/dokumentai/1...

I am researching the papers of #KGB assassin-turned-defector Nikolai Khokhlov at the Hoover Library & Archives. His MA & PhD theses in experimental psychology are there, but almost nothing on espionage. In his later life, he appears to have been more interested in "psychic warfare."

Thanks to @stanforduniversity.bsky.social's Center for Russian, Eastern European & Eurasian Studies for organizing a memorable conference on surveillance & intelligence in Russia & the Soviet Union. My contribution was on Soviet #spy training.

I filed a #FOIA request with #DIA regarding the documents related to #KGB General Aleksandr Sakharovsky, the head of the First Chief Directorate from 1956 to 1971.

Beria's top secret report to Stalin dated Oct. 14, 1944, released by kgbveikla.lt last week, reveals how many anti-Soviet rebels were killed & captured by #NKVD/#NKGB from Feb. to Sept. 1944. Western Ukraine 38,087 (k) / 31,808 (c) Western Belarus 444 (k) / 927 (c) Lithuania 415 (k) / 1,635 (c)

On June 20, 1978, #KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov issued a secret executive order No. 0330 on the candidate assessment & recruitment for work in the KGB. This included the requirement that a potential candidate needs to be monitored & assessed for "no less than 1 year."

Can't believe it's been 6 months since I unboxed #KGBLiterati... still as excited as day one. #spies #writers #intelhistory @socintelhist.bsky.social

Original prototype for #KGB literature & film award established by Yuri Andropov's executive order in March 1979. Want the full story? It's in my book #KGBLiterati. amazon.com/KGB-Literati...

Excellent analysis by Kevin Riehle! "As in periods of instability during the Soviet era, Russia is once again experiencing a wave of defections. Today, these defections take three forms: articulated, final and geographic." www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/05/04/w...

NEW: Top secret #KGB agent questionnaire Find out what information KGB collected about their agents. Psychological traits, addictions, sexual orientation, personal possessions, etc. Based on my archival research. #surveillance #blackmail Read it here: tinyurl.com/yc7w2dmp

Surreal Goodreads moment: scrolling a shelf of well-known books and realizing .... that's my book #KGBLiterati in the mix. Thanks to everyone shelving, rating, and reviewing! Honored to be in this company.

If you ever wondered how various #KGB positions translated into military rank, this is the document for you. The #topsecret order approved by KGB Chairman Ivan Serov in 1955 from the Lithuanian Special Archives. The link: kgbveikla.lt/dokumentai/1...

#KGB counterintelligence leadership believed that #CIA trained Jesuit priests for #spy missions in the Soviet Union at a school near Los Angeles. That's what my ongoing research at Hoover Archives uncovered. Read the story here: tinyurl.com/5abwzrcu

Top secret #KGB Counterintelligence Lexicon from 1972 digitized by the Latvian National Archives includes more & longer entries than the available English translation edited by KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin & published in 2002. The link: kgb.arhivi.lv/dokumenti/vd...

In July 1956, Lithuanian #KGB counterintelligence kept files on the suspected agents of the following countries: US - 90 individuals UK - 54 France - 20 West Germany - 105 Japan - 2 Sweden - 3 Belgium - 1 Israel - 2 Vatican - 2

My book #KGBLiterati expertly reviewed by a retired #CIA officer John Ehrman in the March 2026 issue of the CIA's long-established & highly regarded quarterly journal Studies in Intelligence. ⬇️ @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: cia.gov/resources/cs...

Hot off the press! My book chapter: "A Century of Chekist Public Relations: Four Case Studies." #intel #history #Cheka #KGB #FSB #SVR In "Routledge Handbook of Media & Intelligence" edited by Florina Cristiana Matei & Carolyn Halladay. @socintelhist.bsky.social

Though the Soviet Union is long gone, Russian #spies remain “an existential threat to the U.S.” I highly recommend this interview with a former #CIA officer Sean Wiswesser about his new book. 45 minutes well spent! #FSB #SVR #GRU www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuwY...

In Dec. 2025, #CIA declassified 2 Soviet pubs from the 1950s: 1. Leningrad: An Intourist Guide 2. Leningrad: Sputnik turista (in Russian & English) As the cover page said, "source evaluations are definitive. Appraisal of content is tentative." The link: tinyurl.com/2k4utjsy

My new article! "Crime & Punishment: #KGB Version" (Introduction to the KGB Training Manual ALBERT: Exposing the Dangle) #spies #coldwar @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/mwx4yt9b

Only 2 days left to send your paper proposal for the Society for Intelligence History (SIH) Annual Conference at King's College, London, October 11-13, 2026. A top-ranking forum for intelligence history & related subjects! See you there! 😎 #intel #history #research

"The introduction to the English translation of #KGB training manual was written by Dr. Filip Kovacevic, a leading scholar of Russian & Soviet intelligence history." @michaeldweiss.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social macspaunday.substack.com/p/albert-the...

Enjoyed reading #KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky's hand-written book reviews' drafts in Russian in the Martin Dewhirst Collection at Hoover Archives. Dewhirst translated & edited the drafts for publication. Also, an interesting find: Aleksandr Litvinenko's phone number.

I know this feeling! #archives Madelyn Lugli, H-Diplo: "Those lucky enough to steal away for few days in the reading room can often be found anxiously tearing through boxes, snapping photos on their phones in a race against the final 4 pm call time." ⬇️ networks.h-net.org/group/discus...

It's already well underway! #shoigu

My new article on Substack! "LEOPOLD & ERASMUS: Two #KGB Counterintelligence Agents Sent from Lithuania to Israel in 1972." Based on my research of the Lithuanian KGB documents at Hoover Archives. The link: tinyurl.com/2mn9s5nt

USF Adjunct Prof. Filip Kovacevic (@chekistmonitor.bsky.social), a specialist in Russian and Eurasian intelligence history, spoke with @theguardian.com about the recent case of a spy who plead guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about her contacts with the FSB. bit.ly/404xJwP

Routledge Handbook of Media & Intelligence is available for pre-order. I contributed a chapter "A Century of #Chekist Public Relations: Four Case Studies." Read about the Red Book of #Cheka & other Soviet/Russian PR ops to shape the hearts & minds in the last 100 years @socintelhist.bsky.social