The history of the Cold War is inextricably linked to the activities of intelligence agencies that waged an invisible war for minds, information, and influence. Today, researchers have access to unique sources for studying this struggle — the archives of former state security agencies in the Baltic states and Ukraine.
The Latvian VDK document archive provides access to operational files and agent records, where one can trace how the KGB monitored foreigners, emigrants, and its own citizens for decades. In Lithuania, a special archive holds plans to counteract foreign radio stations and emigration organizations, revealing the scale of the ideological war. In Ukraine, the SBU archives contain KGB files from the Ukrainian SSR, which expose how foreign tourists or students were drawn into global intelligence games.
These materials not only illustrate the methods of intelligence agencies — from surveillance and recruitment to disinformation operations and high-profile trials — but also allow us to see how individual human fates were intertwined with the larger geopolitical confrontation.
In this review, we present a brief description of the collections of Latvian and Lithuanian archives, and as an example, we delve into one of the stories from the SBU archive — the case of American student Marvin Makinen, who became an "involuntary spy" and a bargaining chip in negotiations between superpowers.
Latvia: VDK Document ArchiveThe Latvian National Archive houses extensive collections from the KGB (VDK of the Latvian SSR). Among them are:
- Case No. 873 "Ber" — years of surveillance of the German-Baltic lawyer Dietrich Andrej Lober (1961–1990). Documents record Lober’s visits to the USSR, suspicions of links with the West German intelligence services, and methods of technical surveillance ("litera tehnika"). Despite a lack of evidence, he remained under suspicion for decades.
- Case "Kadri" (vol. 9) — operational correspondence from 1983–1989. This includes plans for preparing foreign intelligence agents, reviews, and examples of disinformation operations through publications in Latvian and émigré press.
These materials allow us to trace three dimensions of intelligence agency operations: long-term surveillance, recruitment practices, and training for espionage activities.
Lithuania: Special ArchiveIn Lithuania, over 1.3 million units of KGB documents are stored. One characteristic example is document K-41-1-715 (1974): a plan to counteract the Lithuanian branch of "Radio Free Europe." It provided for:
- The infiltration of agents into the US and FRG to identify émigrés and candidates for the editorial team,
- Discrediting the radio station through public campaigns,
- Analyzing the audience within Lithuania and identifying "unhealthy manifestations,"
- Control over the importation of anti-Soviet literature (e.g., "The Gulag Archipelago").
This document shows that ideological confrontation with foreign media was considered a priority task for the KGB in Lithuania.
Ukraine: SBU ArchiveThe Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) archive contains KGB files from the Ukrainian SSR, declassified after 2015. Among them are files on dissidents, surveillance of foreigners, and high-profile spy trials:
- The Case of Marvin Makinen (1961–1963) — an American student who, while traveling through Ukraine in a Volkswagen Beetle, photographed military sites and kept a coded diary. He was arrested in Kyiv while attempting to expose the film, and a military tribunal sentenced him to eight years in prison. Makinen became one of the "bargaining chips" in negotiations for the exchange of spies: in 1963, he was released in exchange for Soviet agents arrested in the US.
These materials illustrate how even an ordinary tourist could become a figure in international exchange, and how Soviet counterintelligence turned an "ordinary trip" into a high-profile espionage case.