In December, Bortnikov, head of FSB, gave an interview about "misunderstood" history of Cheka / various internal security services. Given he was already aware of destruction of historical archivals, the re-writing history in this interview is more interesting. Some highlights: /1
Everyone has always tried to destroy Russia through subversion, Bortnikov says, and it is the Chekists duty to be "efficient" in countering these activities. Hence, over-zealousness is a function of a good Chekist bc saving Russia from those "obsessed" w destroying her /2 
Chekists are only a reflection of the society they operate in. Thus, their crimes are your crimes, because your weaknesses must be guarded against /3
Chekists take "extreme measures" because society is rot. The way Bortnikov describes the conditions of the emergence of the Cheka could also be used to describe the '90s -- again, Chekists must take action to save you from decline is a central narrative /4
Here's some nonsense about the "external threats" to the USSR in the 1920s, when exactly no one was planning to invade Russia. Nonetheless, supposed threats required "mobilization", which bred resentment, which required tougher Chekist measures and ultimately the purges /5
The real victims of the purges, Bortnikov says, were other Chekists.
No, really. /6
No, really. /6
And while "overzealousness" cannot be "whitewashed", most of the crimes against the USSR revealed in the purges were real, Bortnikov says. /7
Here are BS numbers Russia uses re purges/oppressions. Noted Russian+Western historians put estimated deaths deliberately caused by Stalin at approx 9 mil. Total deaths up to 25 mil.
See why they want to shred evidence? Gulag registration cards + other archives expose lies. /8
See why they want to shred evidence? Gulag registration cards + other archives expose lies. /8
Again, he says, the atrocities were justified because of intense Soviet paranoia /9
All the dead Poles, Ukrainians, Moldovans, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians -- all "Nazi collaborators" that Chekists spent decades defeating. Bortnikov likens this to "modern counterterrorism" operations conducted against their own citizens, sees nothing wrong w/ that /10
Could the KGB have saved the Soviet Union, Bortnikov is breathlessly asked?
Yes, argues Bortnikov, because ... /11
Yes, argues Bortnikov, because ... /11
... It was always the Chekists that were the soul of the Soviets; when the party committee stopped listening to the KGB, the Soviet people in turn lost faith in the leadership, and this was the end of the USSR.
AMAZING narrative here /12
AMAZING narrative here /12
In the post-Soviet period, the FSB has continued to save Russia from foreign plots and traitors, which include NGOs.
I guess this is meant to explain the tremendously expanded authority of the security services.
/13
I guess this is meant to explain the tremendously expanded authority of the security services.
/13
But this -- Chekists are the guarantee of legitimate rule, since they can do the unthinkable when politicians are weak -- is what Putin very much believes.
Moscow is never silent under Putin. He uses these tools maximally. /14
Moscow is never silent under Putin. He uses these tools maximally. /14
Btw Sivkov later gave an interview in defense of Bortnikov's controversial historical statements.
He said the '80s/90s were so “horrendous” that the 1930s “pale" in comparison. /15
He said the '80s/90s were so “horrendous” that the 1930s “pale" in comparison. /15
He suggested looking at Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze, and Saakashvili in Georhia, speculating that the KGB should have “neutralized all these champions of freedom” in order to “preserve the Soviet Union”. /16
Sivkov argued NKVD/KGB do not bear responsibility for purges/repressions. The REAL culprits were the victims’ colleagues who reported them, forcing law enforcement to react. He accused academics (many wrote an open letter to Bortnikov about his history lies), of doing same /17
He goes further: "What happened to Russia in the 1990s was due to efforts by academics and scientists" to being new "repressions" against Russians. He wonders:"Isn’t it time to hold them to account?" /18
His conclusion is essentially that "Western collaboration" in the '90s -- to reform Russia as a democratic state and open economy -- was worse than the Nazi occupation. /19
Russia is fighting a war on history. We have to be on this battlefield, or their perverse version of history, where the real heroes are police state & executioners "brave enough" to kill fellow citizens, will continue to provide basis for idea that liberal democracy is weak /20
If this were even remotely true, they would not be shredding the evidence. /21
