The Use of Operational Methods by the State Security Committee (KGB) for Repression against the Ukrainian Dissident Movement in the Mid-1970s

Abstract

The article analyzes the extrajudicial informal methods of the State Security Committee`s (KGB) struggle against Ukrainian dissidents after the “second wave of arrests” in the mid-1970s. The following secret methods are distinguished: the use of fictitious agents, operational control over the behavior of dissidents, their compromising to like-minded people, the use of external surveillance services, covert searches, auditory control of premises, video equipment and hidden microphones. The author concludes that the use of informal methods by KGB officers has had a significant impact on reducing the intensification of the Sixties human rights movement. Numerous KGB agents, who were recruited in the dissidents` close circle, played an important role in the processes of gathering information about dissidents and operational control over their behavior. As a result of moral pressure from KGB officers, some dissidents were forced to speak in the press condemning their views, which was later used by the system to discredit the dissident movement and its individual members. Almost complete control over the personal life and activities of the objects of the “Block” case was carried out due to the frequent use of “letter measures” – the service of external surveillance, covert searches, auditory control of premises, the use of hidden microphones and video equipment.