I lived in a house of silence. My father worked for the KGB, and he was responsible for deciding the fate of many of the men arrested daily — whether they deserved short- or long-term gulag sentences, or even something more lethal. He could not share anything about what he experienced...

... United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. A U.S. Navy chief warrant officer, named John Walker, has the dubious distinction of being the most damaging spy in U.S. history. He offered to sell secrets to the Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, in the 1970s. Codenamed "No. 1" by the KGB, by the time he was arrested in 1985, he had recruited his best friend, his brother and his son into his spy ring. The exhibit's debut in New York seems appropriate. "New York is a hotbed...

... situation like this could very well damage the investment climate,” said a senior U.S. lawyer who represents several major Western companies in Russia. He asked for anonymity so as not to draw attention to himself and his clients. Gudkov, a former KGB officer who retired with the rank of colonel, said he believed that he had angered someone by attending the mass opposition rallies that erupted after disputed Duma elections in December, and he said his company might have been targeted because it...

... Russia, fear also evolves out of specific events endemic to the former Soviet Union and to Russia today. Many of my students recall that their parents lived in constant dread of a deadly knock on the door in the middle of the night, signaling that the KGB had come for their father, mother or grandparents. They usually also commented on the fact that a packed suitcase was kept behind the door in anticipation of this fearful event. For many families, the knock did come, and often the loved one who was...

... the 400,000 ruble ($13,600) Innovation Prize by the state National Center for Contemporary Art for a painting of a giant phallus on a cantilever bridge in St. Petersburg that rose to face the offices of the Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB. The group's leaders were jailed last year for another street protest but bailed out by British street artist Banksy. Others have not been so lucky. Russia's jailing since March of members a women's punk band that sang an anti-Putin protest song in...

... decisions in the new government will be overseen by Yevgeny Shkolov, a former Interior Ministry official who was appointed assistant to the president, according to the Kremlin's website. Shkolov worked alongside Putin in East Germany during his tenure in KGB foreign intelligence. After leaving the Interior Ministry, Shkolov joined tank producer Uralvagonzavod. Managers at the company mobilized workers to support Putin during his presidential campaign. Putin had already awarded an appointment to the head...

... singing "Mother of God, throw Putin out!" Three band members are in detention. Kirill's calls for their harsh punishment have divided opinion and ignited a debate over the church's role in politics. Kirill has defended Putin, calling the former KGB spy's 12-year rule "a miracle of God." The Facebook page, which included numerous pictures of the spiritual leader meeting with the pious, already had nearly 900 "likes" only hours after its launch. At the height of Russia's anti-Putin...

... when the political side breaks down," he said in an interview in the RBCC's Moscow offices. Diplomatic ties between Britain and Russia have been strained for years, but they reached a nadir after the 2006 polonium poisoning in London of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko and the Kremlin's refusal to extradite the main suspect in the case. While Thompson said political tension between Britain and Russia could have had some negative consequences for the work of RBCC, he highlighted the...

..., is currently estimated at more than $18 billion, after it bounced back from $1.6 billion during the 2009 crisis, according to Forbes. After the Uzbek-born tycoon spent six years in prison in the 1980s for extortion, alongside the son of a regional KGB deputy, his first successful business foray was into plastic bag manufacturing. Unlike other modern Russian oligarchs, he did not shoot to fabulous wealth on the back of privatization deals in the early 1990s but worked his way steadily upward. A...

... weight, Makarkin said, adding that there have been just a few examples when one didn't automatically lead to the other. One example is former Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, a close friend of Putin, with whom he served in the Leningrad branch of the KGB. Ivanov, who served as first deputy prime minister between 2005 and 2008, was demoted to deputy head of the Cabinet when Putin chaired the government in 2008, but as Putin’s close ally he didn’t lose his political significance after the...

... politician, responds to that pressure will determine his political legacy. And the West's response to Putin's return to the presidency could have a marked effect on whether he presses for liberalizing reforms and survives, or whether he will follow his KGB-honed authoritarian instincts and stoke further protest. Nothing illustrates Russia's malaise under Putin better than the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for Hermitage Capital. He uncovered a massive tax fraud and alleged widespread collusion...