KGB memorandum to Politburo describing the 25 August Red Square demonstrators, signed by Andropov, Shchelokov (Minister of Internal Affairs) and Malyarov (USSR Procurator’s Office) 5 September 1968. [Russian: 5 September 1968, 2102-A], 2 pp.

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Secret

To the CPSU Central Committee

Recently, especially in connection with events in Czechoslovakia, Litvinov, Bogoraz-Brukhman and certain like-minded acquaintances have resumed their hostile activities.

On 25 August this year, in accordance with a pre-arranged plan, they attempted to hold a demonstration on Red Square at about 12 noon [1]. They were carrying placards (in Russian) that read “Hands off the CSSR!” [the Czecho-Slovak Socialist Republic], “For Your Freedom and For Ours!” “Down with the Occupiers!” and (in Czech) “Long Live Free and Independent Czechoslovakia!” This hostile protest was halted in good time with the help of the public. Among the participants of this provocative outrage on Red Square were: Litvinov, no known occupation; Bogoraz-Brukhman, senior research associate at the All-Union Research Institute for Technical Information, Classification and Coding of the Committee for Standards; Fainberg, tour guide at the Pavlovsky Palace in Leningrad; Gorbanevskaya, engineer at the State Institute for Stage Design at Theatres and Spectacles; Babitsky, junior research associate of the USSR Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Russian Language and Literature; Bayeva, student at the Historical-Archival Institute; Korkhova, junior research associate at the Institute of the Global Economy and International Relations; Rusakovskaya, expert at the All-Union Research Institute for Patent Assessment; and Dremlyuga and Delaunay, of no known occupations.

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Eleven people were detained in connection with the said anti-Soviet display, five of whom were released after being questioned by the police. Litvinov, Bogoraz-Brukhman, Fainberg, Dremlyuga, Delaunay and Babitsky are still in detention and are being charged by the Moscow City Procurator’s Office under Article 190:3 of the RSFSR Criminal Code (the organisation, or active participation in, group activities that disturb public order).

It is suggested that in view of the inexpediency of imprisoning Bogoraz-Brukhman and Litvinov the court sentence be limited to exile to remote areas of the country.

The Committee for State Security, the Ministry for the Preservation of Public Order [1] and the USSR Procurator’s Office are taking additional measures to prevent possible hostile protests by anti-social elements.

[signed]                                [signed]                                [signed]

Andropov                            Shchelokov                         Malyarov

5 September 1968

No 2102-A

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NOTES

[1] For a contemporary and uncensored account of the demonstration and its aftermath see A Chronicle of Current Events, Issue 3 (30 August 1968) and subsequent reports in that bimonthly bulletin.

[2] In 1962 the Ministry of Internal Affairs was renamed the Ministry for the Preservation of Public Order, a title it retained until November 1968.

General

• 1. Notes and additions by translator and editor are bracketed, thus [ ]
• 2. Text written by hand is indicated in italic script, and
• 3. by underlined italic script when a handwritten phrase, figure or word has been inserted in a previously typed document.

Translation, John Crowfoot