Loyal Comrades, Ruthless Killers: The Secret Services of the USSR 1917-1991

The secret services of the Soviet Union were intimately involved in all the great conflicts of the 20th century from 1970-1991; and even since the break up of the Soviet Empire; their inheritors in Russia have played a key role, and continue to do so into the fight against international terror in the early 21st century. No other institution in modern history has had such a deep involvement in international affairs. Loyal Comrades, Ruthless Killers presents us with a fresh slant on the history of the modern world. We can look at the great crises of modern times from the real point of view of the leaders of the Soviet Union, and reappraise shadowy figures such as Beria, the man who ran the purges for Stalin and was himself shot on the orders of Krushchev. We can see what the KGB thought of its opponents in the CIA; and trace the involvement of Soviet agents in European political parties during the Cold War. Interestingly, although the Soviet Union was a closed society, there will almost certainly never be the same amount of information available covering the operations of the CIA over the same period.