The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov

Download or read book The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov written by Joshua Rubenstein and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVAndrei Sakharov (1921–1989), a brilliant physicist and the principal designer of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, later became a human rights activist and—as a result—a source of profound irritation to the Kremlin. This book publishes for the first time ever KGB files on Sakharov that became available during Boris Yeltsin’s presidency. The documents reveal the untold story of KGB surveillance of Sakharov from 1968 until his death in 1989 and of the regime’s efforts to intimidate and silence him. The disturbing archival materials show the KGB to have had a profound lack of understanding of the spiritual and moral nature of the human rights movement and of Sakharov’s role as one of its leading figures. /div