Portrait of Putin’s past

by J Michael Waller, Perspective (Boston University), Vol. X, No. 3, February 25, 2000. Why is so little known about the KGB career of Russia’s acting President Vladimir Putin? Most reporting on both sides of the Atlantic is thinly sourced, if sourced at all, and often conflicting. Was Putin a professional foreign intelligence cadre officer whose … Read more

Russia’s security services: A checklist for reforms

by J Michael Waller, Perspective (Boston University, Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy), Vol. VII, No. 1, September-October 1997. Protection of human rights, according to Russian law, is the first duty of the security and intelligence services of the post-Soviet state. Even more, the “special services” or “organs,” as they are called, … Read more

KGB: The perils of arbitrary power

by J Michael Waller, Perspective (Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy), Vol. 2, No. 1, September 1991. “The KGB is everywhere, in everything, and that itself frustrates democracy.” Former KGB Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin(1) “We have had as much democratization as we can stomach.” KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov(2) In trying … Read more