Filip Kovacevic
Top expert on #KGB (ops, archives, spy fiction). Book: KGB Literati (t.co/uWXN1eLc0u). PhD. 25+ years university teaching in Russia/Balkans/US. Now at University of San Francisco.
- It's on now! I am at the AskHistorians Reddit Forum answering questions about KGB spy fiction & my new book #KGBLiterati! See you there! @socintelhist.bsky.social
- "A gripping Cold War-era espionage operation, once buried in #KGB archives, has now come to light." A short article about my paper Operation JESUITS based on my archival research at Hoover Library & Archives. @socintelhist.bsky.social unredacted.info/military-tec...
- Check out #AskHistorians Reddit forum, on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, 11 AM US Eastern Time! I'll be doing a live Q&A session known as Ask Me Anything (AMA) on my new book #KGBLiterati. Your chance to "ask me anything" about KGB spy fiction. @socintelhist.bsky.social reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
- Who was the most productive #KGB agent in Washington, DC in the early 1980s (before Ames & Hanssen)? In his memoir Washington Station (1994), former #KGB officer Yuri Shvets claimed that this agent was a janitor cleaning the offices of major Pentagon contractors in Rosslyn. ⬇️
- Kevin Riehle is right: "Russian services hope low-level agents will progress & handle them that way, just as their Soviet predecessors did. They are not disposable from the outset, even if some get caught." This is why it is important to study #intelhistory. www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/01/23/d...
- #KGB defector Vladimir Kuzichkin wrote that he & his fellow cadets at the Red Banner Institute had access to James Bond films & were not upset with how they portrayed Soviet intel officers. Their attitude was "the more primitive you imagine us to be, the worse for you."
- Really enjoyed speaking in Prof. Mindy Haas’s graduate class on espionage & surveillance in international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh! I discussed #KGB institutional culture, ops mindset, and my book, #KGBLiterati. Thanks, Mindy, for your invitation! @socintelhist.bsky.social
- My new article! "Soviets in North Atlantic: A Disastrous Fishing Expedition near the Faroe Islands in 1952" #MGB #topsecret #coldwar Based on my research at Hoover Library & Archives (Stanford University) @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/3zt6vmts
- Great crowd last night at the Commonwealth Club of California for my talk on #KGB institutional culture & my new book #KGBLiterati. Q&A for almost an hour! @socintelhist.bsky.social
- Thanks, Luca! I really enjoyed this conversation with Antonia Senior, a wonderful host of the Spy Masters podcast on all things #KGB and my new book #KGBLiterati.
- It's a great honor to have Sean Wiswesser, a former #CIA senior operations officer & author of the forthcoming book "Tradecraft, Tactics & Dirty Tricks: Russian Intel & Putin's Secret War," write a review of my book #KGBLiterati for #AFIO! ⬇️ www.afio.com/book-reviews...
- This Thursday, January 15, 2026, the Commonwealth Club of California is hosting my lecture on the legacies of #KGB institutional culture & my new book #KGBLiterati at the Dominican University in San Rafael, California. See you there! www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...
- Just received an autographed copy of Richard Kerbaj's great new book The Defector which I highly recommend. Thanks, Richard! @socintelhist.bsky.social
- And here are some matching Soviet #counterintelligence signatures. #NKVD
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- My 1st article in 2026! "George de Mohrenschildt's First & Last Letters to His Brother Dimitri" Based on my research of Dimitri von Mohrenschildt's papers at Hoover Archives. Read it here: tinyurl.com/bp6xrcvr
- 👀10 days left! Join me at the Commonwealth Club of California for an evening talk on #KGB Culture drawing on my archival research & insights from my new book #KGBLiterati. Date: January 15, 2026 Location: Dominican University, San Rafael, CA. www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...
- #AskHistorians Reddit forum, February 2, 2026. I'll be doing a live Q&A session known as Ask Me Anything (AMA) on my new book #KGBLiterati. Your chance to "ask me anything" concerning KGB spy fiction & institutional culture. Be there! @socintelhist.bsky.social reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
- Ever wondered why I wrote #KGBLiterati? My interview with Miranda Melcher, a great host at New Books Network, covers that. Here's our in-depth discussion of KGB spy fiction & institutional culture: newbooksnetwork.com/kgb-literati @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social #spies
- This top secret document of #KGB's 7th Department (surveillance) in Kaunas, Lithuania explains how they disguised a photo camera in a handbag. The document is not dated but, based on its position in the file, I suspect that it was written in 1956.
- My new article! "How An Estonian Fishing Boat Escaped from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1947" (and how MGB failed to stop it) Based on my research of #MGB/#KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives. @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/yc6z5nmr
- #CIA-funded Joint Publications Research Service translated several Soviet spy fiction novels in the 1970s but only one of them was written by #KGB officers. Rezident's Mistake was the first in a trilogy of novels on KGB counterintelligence. I discuss all three in #KGBLiterati.
- In 1985, Lithuanian #KGB Tech Services prepared a 7-page secret memo listing "potential signs" the letter was sent by, or to, foreign intel. Some signs: cheap envelope, large spaces between the words, "thin" letter (2 pages or less), clearly written address, no dates, etc.
- #KGBLiterati soon on New Books Network! I just recorded an interview with Miranda Melcher, a great New Books Network host. Will be posted next week. #spies #writers #kgb
- In mid-February 1965, the Sino-Soviet Study Group of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) discussed #KGB spy fiction based on a report provided by #CIA. I discuss the content of this CIA report in my new book #KGBLiterati.
- In 1987, "'Quiet' Americans: On #CIA Activities Against USSR" edited by A. Fabanov & R. Sergeyev was published in Moscow. But there is a problem. Neither Fabanov nor Sergeyev existed. The real editors were Arkady Fabrichnikov & Rem Krasilnikov, two top #KGB CI officers.
- My new article! "NKVD Plan to Undermine the Catholic Church in Lithuania in 1941" Based on my ongoing research of #NKVD/#MGB/#KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives! @socintelhist.bsky.social @hooverinstitution.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/2ah69ze6
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- #KGBLiterati is featured in the Hoover Library & Archives Newsletter among the newly catalogued library materials in Fall 2025. @uoftpress.bsky.social @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/ypdja9m4
- My new book #KGBLiterati presented at Gleeson Library, University of San Francisco. @utpress.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social #spies #writers #coldwar
- "In #KGBLiterati, intelligence historian Filip Kovacevic unearths the forgotten front of the Cold War — the one fought not with wiretaps or microfilm but with words." @thecipherbrief.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social www.thecipherbrief.com/kgb-literati...
- My 95-year-old grandmother just received her copy of my new book #KGBLiterati. To order your copy: utppublishing.com/doi/book/10.... #spies #writers #spyfiction #KGB
- "Napoleon's Lost Treasure for Stalin's 70th Birthday" One of the most bizarre Soviet #counterintelligence pursuits I discovered while researching #KGB files at Hoover Archives. @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social Read it here: tinyurl.com/muc3chyk
- It's truly an honor to have my book KGB Literati reviewed in the Cipher Brief by Bill Harlow, Cipher Brief's senior book review editor & former #CIA chief spokesman. @thecipherbrief.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social www.thecipherbrief.com/kgb-literati...
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- #KGBLiterati at the Commonwealth Club of California. January 15, 2026. @uoftpress.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...
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- #CIA's Early Cold War version of Operation MINCEMEAT. It was not carried out because Soviet Major "Vasily Ryabov" refused to defect.
- Did Pavel Sudoplatov have a long conversation with Stalin at the Kremlin on February 20, 1953, as he claimed in his memoirs (ghosted by his son Anatoli)? There is no record of this meeting in the logs of Stalin's Kremlin visitors. #factcheck @socintelhist.bsky.social
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- "Why You Should Read #KGBLiterati: An Elevator Pitch for My Book" Read it here: tinyurl.com/mspbns8a #KGB #CIA #spies #writers #books
- 📢A day for champagne & caviar! #Unboxing my book KGB LITERATI: SPY FICTION & STATE SECURITY IN THE SOVIET UNION! 🎉 Grab your copy here 👉https://utppublishing.com/doi/book/10.3138/9781487548919 @socintelhist.bsky.social #Spies #Writers #KGB #BookLaunch #NewRelease
- A free event organized by the Society for Intelligence History! Register below. #CIA #intelligence #future
- Can't wait for our Wednesday, Nov 19, discussion with @tim-weiner.bsky.social about his super new book, "The Mission." This is going to be good! @lucatrenta.bsky.social @chekistmonitor.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social .
- Tomorrow my book #KGBLiterati meets the world & the world meets #KGBLiterati! amazon.com/KGB-Literati... Simon Willmetts: "A must read for anybody interested in intelligence, spy fiction, and the role that culture played during the Cold War." ⬇️ @socintelhist.bsky.social
- Just 4 days left until my new book #KGBLiterati hits the shelves! amazon.com/KGB-Literati... Kevin Riehle: "Kovacevic's meticulous research illuminates a dark corner in Soviet intel history by opening the world of Soviet spy fiction to a non-Russian audience." @socintelhist.bsky.social ⬇️
- Former #CIA officer & acclaimed spy fiction novelist I. S. Berry on my new book: "#KGBLiterati is a revelation, drawing back the iron-curtain to reveal the little-known world of Soviet espionage literature." #KGBLiterati release is 7 days from today. The link: amazon.com/KGB-Literati...
- What was inside a top secret regional #KGB spy museum in 1960? @socintelhist.bsky.social Find out in my new article based on the ongoing archival research of #KGB documents at @hooverinstitution.bsky.social. #spies #intelhistory #coldwar The link: tinyurl.com/y6v3by35
- Roman Kim, Soviet #NKVD officer who wrote #spy fiction, based his novel Burn After Reading in the US before and during WWII. His main protagonists are two US Navy officers. To find out more, check out my upcoming book #KGBLiterati. The link: amazon.com/KGB-Literati...
- My new article on Substack! "Death and the Maidens: How Two Polish Sisters Deceived Soviet #Counterintelligence in Post-WWII Vilnius" Based on my ongoing research of #KGB files at @hooverinstitution.bsky.social. #intelhistory #SMERSH @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/3cubry5e
- Very informative webinar on U.S., Soviet, and East German intelligence documents & archives organized by the Davis Center for Russian & Eurasian Studies @harvard.edu. Highly recommend! #CIA #NSA #KGB #HVA @socintelhist.bsky.social www.youtube.com/live/wPe-5MI...
