Spies without cloaks : the KGB's successors / Amy Knight.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Knight, Amy W., 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secret service--Russia (Federation).

Secret service.

Russia (Federation). Ministerstvo bezopasnosti.

Russia (Federation).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (324 p.)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1996.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book offers a compelling and comprehensive account of what happened to the KGB when the Soviet Union collapsed and the world's most powerful and dangerous secret police organization was uncloaked. As Amy Knight shows, the KGB was renamed and reorganized several times after it was officially disbanded in December 1991--but it was not reformed. Knight's rich and lively narrative begins with the aborted August 1991 coup, led by KGB hard-liners, and takes us through the summer of 1995, when the Russian parliamentary elections were looming on the horizon. The failed coup attempt was a setback for the KGB because it led to demands from Russian democrats for a complete overhaul of the security services. As a result, the KGB's leaders were fired, its staff reduced, and its functions dispersed among several agencies. Even the elite foreign intelligence service was subjected to budget cuts. But President Yeltsin was reluctant to press on with reforms of the security services, because he needed their support in his struggle against mounting political opposition. Indeed, by the spring of 1995, the security services had regained much of what they had lost in the wake of the August coup. Some observers were even saying that they had acquired more power and influence than the old KGB.This story told by one of the foremost experts on the Soviet/Russian security services and enriched by face-to-face interviews with security professionals in Moscow, is crucial to understanding Russian politics in transition. It will fascinate scholars, policymakers, and general readers interested in the fate of the KGB.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE. The KGB and the Myth of the August Coup

CHAPTER TWO. Building Russia's Security Apparatus

CHAPTER THREE. Security Services Put to the Test: The Political Crises of 1993

CHAPTER FOUR. 1994: An Expanding Role for Domestic Security

CHAPTER FIVE. Foreign Intelligence: The Empire at Iasenevo

CHAPTER SIX. Russia's Borders and Beyond

CHAPTER SEVEN. The Security Services and Human Rights

CHAPTER EIGHT. Guardians of History

CHAPTER NINE. 1995: The KGB's Domain Revisited

CHAPTER TEN. Conclusion

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-300) and index.

ISBN:

9786612752377

9781400816835

1400816831

9781400821877

1400821878

9781282752375

1282752375

9781400812387

1400812380

OCLC:

614740791