Customer Reviews

Comrade Kryuchkov's Instructions: Top Secret Files on KGB Foreign Operations, 1975-1985

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In the 60 years since World War 2, there have been thousands of spy novels depicting clandestine KGB activity. Readers of those might have reasonably wondered at how accurate they were, in presenting a kernel of guidance. Here is an inside take. Based on actual gleanings of KGB documents. Coincidentially (or not), the book came out just as the Cold War ended. Quite fitting, as an endnote to an era.

The book is actually quite tedious reading. It describes how a large bureaucracy functioned. The translations of KGB documents is often stilted reading. Some of this might have been due to the translating, but mostly it was probably inherent in the mindset and procedures of the original authors.

It is interesting, in revealing a worldview quite different from that of the US. Some sections are amusing, where they are about forgeries that the KGB made, that purported to be American. These were part of extensive KGB disinformation campaigns, waged against the CIA.

Overall, the KGB is shown as quite diligent, but flawed in its own fashion. One might wonder what a similar book about the CIA would reveal.

One of the most uninteresting books about intelligence.
Can easily stand as an appendix of the much more interesting and useful book written by one of the authors - Christopher Andrew with Vasili Mitrokhin - The sword and the shield. The Mitrokhin archive ... vol. I." or the book written by the same authors KGB The inside story of its Foreign Operations...".
There is nothing useful inside this book.
The text is so dry with nothing interesting, that after reading the book just once I felt no need to read it again.
Save your money and simply skip this book with no emotions.

Imagine the CIA clandestine mentality and U.S. bureaucracy, as operated by a Soviet-style controlled regime. This is an eye-glazing but very professionally put together testimonial to the fact that much of what the KGB did was pedestrian, pointless, very expensive, and as weak on understanding foreign countries as the US.

as mentioned above, I am satisfied with the book I bought.
It is a great feeling when a product is what You hoped for.