"The Sword and the Shield" is a book written by Christopher Andrew with Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin about the KGB. I am going to publish some important and complete informations from this book every time I finish reading a chapter.
Introduction :
17 OCT 1995 : C. Andrew was informed by the MI6 that V. Mitrokhin has been exfiltrated from Russia in 1992 with his family and 6 cases of top secret materials. Mitrokhin is an archivist from the KGB. Mitrokhin noted every single document he had access to during 12 years. These notes are known as The Mitrokhin Archive.
It was huge (for example, only three European states were absent : Liechtenstein, Monaco and Andorra, there were even important materials about San Marino!) and interesting : Andrews thinks that Mitrokhin had access to even the most highly classified documents of the KGB (with real names, code names and interesting details on sleeping agents and so).
C. Andrew had already written a book about KGB based on the leaks by Oleg Gordievsky : KGB, The Inside Story Of Its Foreign Operations From Lenin To Gorbachev (1991). The Mitrokhin Archive became public on 11 SEPT 1999 and attracted attention from the medias only for the British related content.
In fact, the Mitrokhin Archive contained also materials about the Magnificent Five, Kim Philby, KGB's operations against NATO countries, etc.
Andrews presented some stories about British citizens involved with the KGB like Melita Norwood (87 years when uncovered) and John Symonds. Andrews also believes that the investigative services of the United Kingdom underestimated the importance of spies like Norwood and Symonds.
Understanding Mitrokhin : Mitrokhin has assembled the biggest compilation of informations from the archives of the KGB. Andrews wonders if Mitrokhin is a convinced anti-communist, or just someone who knew the importance of his job and decided to get some benefit from it. But both explanations are not satisfying Andrews, and he thinks that “for any western writer, it is almost impossible to understand how a writer could devote all his or her energy and creative talent for many years to secret writing which might never be publicly revealed.” Yet, Andrews stated that many soviet writers did exactly that.
In general, the Mitrokhin archive was the most important set of materials revealed from the dark of the KGB, as considered by the CIA, the FBI and the SIS (MI6). Now with the disappearing of KGB and the birth of a new name (at least) for the Russian intelligence, which is the SVR (Sluzhba Vneshnei Razvedki), no further materials were uncovered by the Russian government.
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