C-7. Operativnyi arkhiv Sluzhby vneshnei razvedki RF (Arkhiv SVR Rossii)

[Operational Archive of the Foreign Intelligence Service]

Agency: Sluzhba vneshnei razvedki RF (SVR Rossii) [Foreign Intelligence Service]

• Address: (Press and Public Affairs Bureau): 119034, Moscow, ul. Ostozhenka, 51/10
  Telephone: 247-19-38; Fax: (095) 247-05-29
  SVR Chief: Viacheslav Ivanovich Trubnikov
  Chief, Press and Public Affairs Bureau: Iurii Georgievich Kobaladze
  Chief of the Archival Directorate: Sergei Olegovich Panin
  
  Previous names:
  
• Arkhiv Pervogo glavnogo upravleniia KGB SSSR (Arkhiv PGU) [Archive of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB USSR](1954-VIII.1991)
  
• Arkhiv Tsentral'noi sluzhby razvedki SSSR [Archive of the Intelligence Service of the USSR] (VIII.1991-XII.1991)
  
  The Foreign Intelligence Service was formed as a separate agency in the November 1991 reorganization of the KGB, and that new agency took over the records of the foreign intelligence operations of the former KGB, namely the First Chief Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, and its predecessors. According to the 1996 Law of RF "On the Foreign Intelligence Service", the SVR and other agencies dealing with foreign intelligence are given increased authority over their own records, although theoretically, documentation from this archive that is considered to have a scientific-historical significance, is to be transferred to Rosarkhiv. A few limited categories of documents are now being transferred to RGVA (see B-8).
  
  Access:
  The archive is not open for normal public research, since its holdings are considered by law as state secrets. Answers to specific questions, and occasionally copies of selected declassified documents on specified subjects, are communicated on the basis of written inquiry. A December 1995 interview with the Chief of the Archival Division (below) makes it clear that researchers should not expect many transfers or revelations from SVR archives. Some limited documents on special topics have been declassified and made available under special publication agreements.
  
  Recent Survey:
• Poleshchuk, Andrei. "Arkhivy rossiiskoi razvedki: Dostup k nim mozhet poluchit' daleko ne kazhdyi", Nezavisimaia gazeta, 20 December 1995. p. 6. (interview with SVR Archival Division Chief, A. P. Belozerov). -- The first revealing press interview with the SVR archival chief regarding the functions and holdings of the archive, justifying the lack of research access and warning the public not to expect many revelations.