Wilson Center Digital Archive

Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia

Documents on the 1968 Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet invasion in response. The documents are from various sources, but the bulk of them come from the Central State Archive of Social Organizations of Ukraine. Mostly comprised of reports, notes, and memorandums, the growing unrest in Czechoslovakia is discussed, along with border control problems, and the Warsaw Pact's eventual military intervention. See also the Warsaw Pact. (Image, tanks in Prague)

February 28, 1968

Note from P. Shelest to CPSU Central Committee

A note from P. Shelest to the CC CSPU regarding a suspicious incident relating to Czechoslovak unrest.
March 21, 1968

Memorandum from the Secretary of the Transcarpathian Oblast, Ukrainian CP about tensions in Czechoslovakia

A report on a conversation between Yu. V. Il’nyts’kyi, Secretary of the Transcarpathian Oblast of the Ukrainian CP, and Jan Koscelanský, 1st Secretary of the KSC’s East Slovakia regional committee on the developing situation in Czechoslovakia.
March 29, 1968

Record of the Plenum of the Bulgarian Communist Party Central Communist, Sofia

Excerpts of the Minutes of discussion from the Bulgarian Communist Party Plenum regarding the situation in Czechoslovakia.
April 23, 1968

Conversation with the Consul-General of the CSSR in Kyiv, J. Gorak

B. BAKLANOV, Third Secretary of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, relates a conversation initiated by J. Gorak, the Czechoslovak Consul-General.
April 25, 1968

Report by P. Shelest on the April 1968 Plenum of the CC CPSU

P. Shelest delivers a report at a Party meeting on the April 1968 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, with particular focus on the stepped-up activity of revisionist, Zionist, and anti-socialist forces in [Czechoslovakia]."
April 30, 1968

Transcarpathian Oblast First Secretary Yu. Ilnytskyi's Report to P. Shelest

Yu. Ilnytskyi reports on his 29 April 1968 conversation with the first secretary of the KSC’s East Slovakia regional committee, Cde. Ján Koscelanský, on the on-going situation in Czechoslovakia.
May 12, 1968

Yu. Ilnytskyi Reports on Items from the Czechoslovak Media

On Certain Items Featured in Czechoslovak Television Broadcasts and in the Newspaper ‘Rudé právo'.
May 14, 1968

Report by KGB Lt. Col Demochko on a Meeting with "Czechoslovak Friends"
May 14, 1968

KGB Lt. Col. A. Zhabchenko's Report to the Ukrainian SSR's Council of Ministers
May 14, 1968

P. Shelest Reports on Cde. Il’nyts’kyi's and Cde. Rusyn's Visit to Czechoslovakia
May 14, 1968

Report by KGB Lt. Col. Zabchenko on his meeting with a Slovakian Interior Ministry Colonel
May 15, 1968

P. Shelest Supplements his Earlier Report on the Activities of Cdes. Il’nyts’kyi and Belousov in Czechoslovakia.
May 17, 1968

A Memorandum to the Ukrainian Committee on State Security Regarding Counterintelligence Difficulties

A memo stating the difficulties of finding sufficient manpower for counter-intelligence given the crisis in Czechoslovakia.
May 21, 1968

P. Shelest's Analysis for the CPSU CC

P. Shelest analyzes comments by Czechoslovak informers.
May 22, 1968

KGB Border Report to P. Shelest

Report on lax border controls between Warsaw Pact nations and the Western District, USSR.
May 22, 1968

Memorandum to CPSU Politburo on Western District Border Controls

P. Shelest reports to the CPSU Politburo on the admission of subversive materials through the Western District border controls, and the lax state of those border controls.
May 25, 1968

Summation of Informers from the Transcarpathian Oblast, Ukrainian SSR

A report summarizing various conversations from the Transcarpathian Oblast, submitted by Ukrainian KGB Chief A. Zabchenko
May 30, 1968

Report on Statements by Ukrainian Journalists in the CSSR

P. Shelest reports to the CPSU CC about the observations of Ukrainian journalists inside Czechoslovakia during the developing 1968 crisis.
June 04, 1968

Informational Note on Subversive Materials Arriving from the CSSR

P. Shelest complains about subversive publications from the CSSR arriving in the Ukraine, mostly as a part of regular subscriptions.
June 04, 1968

Report on the Trip by a Delegation of Soviet Workers to the CSSR

V. Shcherbyts'kyi reports to P. Shelest on events and observations from a USSR workers' delegation traveling in the CSSR.