Thousands of Leaked KGB Files Are Now Open To the Public

schwit1 (797399) writes "Over 20 years after being smuggled out of Russia, a trove of KGB documents are being opened up to the public for the first time. The leaked documents include thousands of files and represent what the FBI is said to view as "the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source." The documents include KGB information on secret Russian weapons caches, Russian spies, and KGB information on the activities of Pope John Paul II. Known as the Mitrokhin Archive, the files are all available as of today at Churchill College's Archives Centre."

Comments

seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[user317]

whats the difference between this guy and snowden?

Re:seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[Anonymous Coward]

No see it's okay because they were dirty commies and aren't allowed to have secrets, what are you some kind of terrorist?

Re:seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[i kan reed]

Snowden had the decency to alert his own people to abuses, rather than just foreign governments?

Re:seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[blueg3]

Well:
* The documents are being revealed to the public now and document events from 30-40 years ago.
* These are documents that he personally worked with, rather than a cache of documents acquired for the purpose of copying and releasing them.
* There's no question, I think, that this guy was a spy and defector. He was moved from Russia to the UK with the help of UK intelligence agencies in exchange for Russian secrets. Nobody's trying to claim that he's a "whistleblower". No comment on his actions or motivations vs. Snowden's, but they are potentially substantially different.
* This guy is dead.

Up to you to decide if any of these are substantive differences and why, but there are distinct differences.

Re:seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[plover]

Here are a few more differences and corrections:
* Mitrokhin turned the data over to British officials only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He did not endanger his country's ongoing intelligence operations. He may have embarrassed several former Soviet officials, but the revelations were not a crime against his country, as that country no longer existed at the time of their release. While the act of copying the classified data would certainly have been a crime against the Soviet Union, again, that country was gone. (Snowden released the data of his own still-active country, including information about active operations.)
* The data he turned over was archival material spanning decades and ending in the 1980s; he gave it up in the early 1990s. Some of it was less than ten years old at the time it was delivered. (Snowden's data was indeed more current and relevant.)
* After the publication of his notes in two books, the SVR actually provided academic access to the old KGB archives for a time. I think that was ended after the wrong person was embarrassed by his historical record, perhaps a former lieutenant colonel in the KGB. (The NSA has not yet opened their doors to the public in response to Snowden's release.)
* He was not a "whistleblower" in that he did not release this data in an attempt to change any ongoing practices. He was a historian who respected the truth, and did not want the facts distorted or destroyed by a regime with a long history of rewriting history. (Snowden is an activist, who is trying to effect change.)
* Mitrokhin's position was a Senior Archivist. He had access to essentially all KGB historical records, not simply operations of which he was a part. (Snowden was an administrator of systems, and had access to the records they contained; he also used other people's credentials to gain additional access to other records.)

Re:seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[lister king of smeg]

If he had this "decency" you speak of, he would have only alerted his own people and not the foreign governments.

And how is he supposed to only tell the US when the internet covers the whole planet, local news is an illusion.

Re:seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[GNious]

He tried - the US didn't want to listen to him.

Re:seems like snowden did the exact same thing.

[omems]

it's spelled "Beta."

No they're not

[Anonymous Coward]

With the exception of sections 6-7[which are closed], the collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Yeah, thanks...

searching for reports from Boris and Natasha

[k6mfw]

on how they bungled every mission involving Moose and Squirrel.