Filip Kovacevic

@ChekistMonitor

Top expert on #KGB (ops, archives, spy fiction). Book: KGB Literati (http://tinyurl.com/yc5y3hfh). PhD. 25+ years university professor in Russia/Balkans/US (@usfca)

San Francisco, CA

Joined August 2020

913Following

6KFollowers

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Apr 28

📢 Exciting News! My book KGB LITERATI: SPY FICTION & STATE SECURITY IN THE SOVIET UNION is now available for pre-order! 🎉 Grab your copy here 👉 tinyurl.com/yc5y3hfh #spies #writers #KGB #booklaunch #newrelease #preordernow

ChekistMonitor's tweet card. KGB Literati: Spy Fiction and State Security in the Soviet Union

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jul 26

OUR DEAR FRIENDS IN MOSCOW is a gripping first-hand account of Russia's descent into dictatorship under Putin.@AndreiSoldatov @irinaborogan Next time I teach a course on Russian Politics at the University of San Francisco, I'll make it a required reading. amazon.com/Our-Dear-Frien…

ChekistMonitor's tweet card. tells the story of a group of young Russians, part of an idealistic generation who came of age in Moscow at the end of the twentieth century, just as the communist era imploded and a future full of...

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · 3 h

My new article on #KGB general Valentin Zvezdenkov. In the 1950s, he was a major player in the case against #GRU officer & #CIA agent Pyotr Popov. In the late 1980s, he was welcomed by Rand Corp & conferred with ex DCI William Colby. open.substack.com/pub/kgbstack/p…

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. My new article on #KGB general Valentin Zvezdenkov.

In the 1950s, he was a major player in the case against #GRU officer &amp; #CIA agent Pyotr Popov.

In the late 1980s, he was welcomed by Rand Corp &amp; conferred with ex DCI William Colby.

open.substack.com/pub/kgbstack/p…

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jul 25

Thank you to @isberryauthor for mentioning my forthcoming book KGB LITERATI in her inspiring review of Charlie English's THE CIA BOOK CLUB in @washingtonpost today. #spies #literature washingtonpost.com/books/2025/07/…

ChekistMonitor's tweet card. Charlie English provides a fascinating account of how the agency smuggled Camus, Orwell and Vonnegut behind the Iron Curtain in “The CIA Book Club.”

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Filip Kovacevic Retweeted

Andrei Soldatov@AndreiSoldatov · Jul 23

This week marks exactly one year since my father, Alexey Soldatov — a nuclear physicist and pioneer of the Russian Internet — was imprisoned. He remains in a penal colony in the Ryazan region. Here’s my article from last year about his case. thetimes.com/world/europe/a…

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jul 23

Writing an article for Substack based on docs about a #KGB general I obtained from the Lithuanian Special Archives. To be posted in a few days. Subscribe here not to miss it: kgbstack.substack.com

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Filip Kovacevic Retweeted

Richard Kerbaj@RichardKerbaj · Jul 22

Thank you for your endorsement, @ChekistMonitor - and for all your help along the way!

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jul 21

I just published my first post on Substack. It's about #KGB defector Yuri Nosenko as a young man in the Soviet Union. Based on both Russian & #CIA archives. #spies #lies #topsecret Read the full post here: open.substack.com/pub/kgbstack/p…

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. I just published my first post on Substack.

It's about #KGB defector Yuri Nosenko as a young man in the Soviet Union. Based on both Russian &amp; #CIA archives. #spies #lies #topsecret

Read the full post here: open.substack.com/pub/kgbstack/p…

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jul 20

#OTD 99 years ago Felix Dzerzhinsky, the most mythologized Chekist in history, died suddenly in Moscow. Given the resurgence of Chekism in Russia, his statue might soon be back in front of the Lubyanka. Here's how the Soviet newspaper Izvestiya reported his death.

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. #OTD 99 years ago Felix Dzerzhinsky, the most mythologized Chekist in history, died suddenly in Moscow.

Given the resurgence of Chekism in Russia, his statue might soon be back in front of the Lubyanka.

Here's how the Soviet newspaper Izvestiya reported his death.

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 20

In this letter dated February 9, 1944, #SMERSH chief Viktor Abakumov informs Stalin about a published digest of materials on German military intelligence operations. See on the cover: "Top Secret: If in danger of capture by enemy, DESTROY." ⬇️

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. In this letter dated February 9, 1944, #SMERSH chief Viktor Abakumov informs Stalin about a published digest of materials on German military intelligence operations.

See on the cover: "Top Secret: If in danger of capture by enemy, DESTROY." ⬇️

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 11

A spreadsheet of codenamed agents & safehouse owners of the Lithuanian #KGB First Department (the regional branch of KGB First Chief Directorate) and how much they were paid on the monthly basis in 1989. 60 people in total.

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. A spreadsheet of codenamed agents &amp; safehouse owners of the Lithuanian #KGB First Department (the regional branch of KGB First Chief Directorate) and how much they were paid on the monthly basis in 1989.

60 people in total.

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 9

A plot for #Netflix? Small Lithuanian town, December 1956. A young woman, a Komsomol member, receives a threatening letter in the mail. 6-month #KGB investigation reveals she wrote the letter herself to get her nemesis (praised in the letter) fired from the job she coveted. ⬇️

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. A plot for #Netflix?
Small Lithuanian town, December 1956. A young woman, a Komsomol member, receives a threatening letter in the mail.
6-month #KGB investigation reveals she wrote the letter herself to get her nemesis (praised in the letter) fired from the job she coveted. ⬇️

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 7

NYT: "Russian Spies Are Suspicious of China, Even as Putin and Xi Grow Close." @nytimes For #KGB counterintelligence activities against Chinese spies, take a look at a 7-part article series I wrote for the Wilson Center's blog. ⬇️ wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/sovi…

ChekistMonitor's tweet card. Filip Kovacevic analyzes the “subversive activities” of the Chinese intelligence services in the 1970s as seen from the eyes of the Soviet KGB.

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 6

#KGB meticulously recorded the monetary value & date of rewards given to agents. Lithuanian KGB agent codenamed OMAR, for example, was rewarded 22 times in the course of his 17 years of clandestine service (1972-1989). Money, meals, gifts. ⬇️

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. #KGB meticulously recorded the monetary value &amp; date of rewards given to agents.

Lithuanian KGB agent codenamed OMAR, for example, was rewarded 22 times in the course of his 17 years of clandestine service (1972-1989).

Money, meals, gifts. ⬇️

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 5

In August & September 1968, local branches of Lithuanian #KGB collected negative reactions of the population on the "events in Czechoslovakia" & reported them to the local Communist leadership. Here's an example from the town of Marijampole then called Kapsukas.

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. In August &amp; September 1968, local branches of Lithuanian #KGB collected negative reactions of the population on the "events in Czechoslovakia" &amp; reported them to the local Communist leadership.

Here's an example from the town of Marijampole then called Kapsukas.

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 3

This table shows how much Lithuanian #KGB's First Department (the regional branch of KGB's First Chief Directorate aka Moscow Center) spent on its agents (monetary rewards, pensions, safe house maintenance, etc.) in 1988 & 1989 plus the projected expenses for 1990. #HUMINT

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. This table shows how much Lithuanian #KGB's First Department (the regional branch of KGB's First Chief Directorate aka Moscow Center) spent on its agents (monetary rewards, pensions, safe house maintenance, etc.) in 1988 &amp; 1989 plus the projected expenses for 1990. #HUMINT

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · Jun 2

In mid-1980s, Lithuanian #KGB had an agent who was an expert on Soviet birds & attended the 19th International Ornithological Congress held in Ottawa in 1986. His codename: STARLING.

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. In mid-1980s, Lithuanian #KGB had an agent who was an expert on Soviet birds &amp; attended the 19th International Ornithological Congress held in Ottawa in 1986.

His codename: STARLING.

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · May 30

A dust jacket of the early 1990s Russian edition of Christopher Andrew & Oleg Gordievsky's book on #KGB with a blurb by Oleg Kalugin. No Russia-based publisher would be allowed to publish & distribute it in Russia now.

ChekistMonitor's tweet image. A dust jacket of the early 1990s Russian edition of Christopher Andrew &amp; Oleg Gordievsky's book on #KGB with a blurb by Oleg Kalugin.

No Russia-based publisher would be allowed to publish &amp; distribute it in Russia now.

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Filip Kovacevic@ChekistMonitor · May 30

Very grateful to @isberryauthor, a former CIA officer & talented spy fiction writer, for her kind words about my forthcoming book #KGBLiterati.

II.S. Berry | THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW@isberryauthor · May 30

KGB LITERATI - such an interesting book. Draws back the iron curtain to reveal the world of Soviet espionage literature & #KGB spooks-turned-scribes. Probes the power & role of fiction (esp. spy novels) in geopolitics. Check it out Oct 2025. #Chekist @utpress @ChekistMonitor

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