Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989), a brilliant physicist and the principal designer
of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, later became a human rights activist and—as a
result—a source of profound irritation to the Kremlin. This book publishes for
the first time ever KGB files on Sakharov that became available during Boris
Yeltsin’s presidency. The documents reveal the untold story of KGB
surveillance of Sakharov from 1968 until his death in 1989 and of the regime’s
efforts to intimidate and silence him. The disturbing archival materials show
the KGB to have had a profound lack of understanding of the spiritual and
moral nature of the human rights movement and of Sakharov’s role as one of its
leading figures. Read more