From Publishers Weekly
The KGB was abolished in 1991, but as Ebon ( The Andropov File ) demonstrates in this cogent report, the former Soviet spy agency continues its domestic activities as the Russian Ministry of Security, while its foreign operations are now handled by various successor agencies. Moreover, virtually every former Soviet republic has retained a KGB or KGB-like apparatus for its own national purposes. Ebon sheds light on Gorbachev's ties to the KGB, reveals Moscow's covert operations in Iran and documents the agency's efforts to sabotage the Baltic republics' independence movements. He also theorizes, on the basis of fragmentary, inconclusive reports, that the British Czech-born billionaire Robert Maxwell, who drowned under mysterious circumstances in 1991, appears to have been an "agent of influence" for the Soviet secret service.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
I picked up this book with sigh--not another "now it can be told about the USSR story"--but found myself fully engrossed in this tale of the post-1989 KGB. From the inside story of the 1991 anti-Gorbachev coup (never mind Gorby's connections to the KGB) to a range of questions (did Robert Maxwell have KGB ties? what happened to Raoul Wallenberg?), Ebon tells a fascinating and insightful history of the KGB, both in its sinister and its bumbling aspects. Ebon traces the rebirth of the KGB, especially in the new independent state, and examines its contemporary targets. His conclusion that "the KGB by any other name will still be the KGB" is a sobering reminder of the realities of geopolitics, Russian political traditions, and the persistence of intelligence agencies. Required reading for students of the former USSR.
- H. Steck, SUNY at CortlandCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
