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June 2007

Operational Techniques. Folder 76. The Chekist Anthology

In this folder Mitrokhin reports on some spy techniques used by the KGB in major western European cities (including Helsinki, Geneva, Bucharest) in 1975. According to Mitrokhin, the main tasks for KGB residents trained in the use of operational techniques were to check post offices for foreign correspondence, to secretly receive information about meetings of officials of a certain country, and to videotape any acts of anti-socialist movements. This note provides detailed statistics on the photographs taken of foreign mail, telephone recordings, and radio-intercepts. Mitrokhin specifically focuses on operations which took place in Vienna. As his note states, KGB agents photographed thousands of pages of secret materials using the “Zagadka,” a mini-camera built into a regular pen. The KGB residency had their own “TS” correspondence service with 98 N-line—undercover agents operated by legal residents—around Europe. Residents used microdot script and steganography —the art of writing hidden messages—for agents of N-line. As Mitrokhin states, X-line—residency subunit of scientific-technical investigation—agents’ tasks were to provide materials for secret operations. They built in a recording device in an ashtray, used the inside of an automobile seats to keep secret materials, and batteries for cameras. Mitrokhin also provides the exact number and names of all KGB residency agencies in Vienna in 1975, and describes security techniques used for their technology and agents.

July 14, 1967

Telegram of the Romanian Legation in Tel Aviv to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Regarding Positions Taken by Foreign Diplomats and Israeli officials toward Romania, in light of the Position Adopted in the Middle East Conflict

The Romanian envoy in Tel Aviv writes of discussions with western European diplomats. They praise Romania’s independent stand in the Middle East crisis and its abstention from the Budapest Summit. He does let the western diplomats know that Romania still remains within the Warsaw Pact. He discusses Israeli policy of not withdrawing from the occupied territories until the State of Israel is recognized by the Arabs. Israel is also pushing France to lift the arms embargo.