The KGB and perlustration of international correspondence in the Ukrainian SSR: the case of Roman Hryn
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2026.162.14
Keywords:
KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, perlustration, Prague Spring, Transcarpathia, microhistory, Soviet surveillance, Article 62 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSRAbstract
Background. The article examines the mechanisms of control over international communication in the Ukrainian SSR after the Prague Spring of 1968. Unlike previous studies that have focused on Ukrainian dissidence and public forms of protest, this study traces how Soviet authorities monitored and prosecuted private international correspondence in a borderland region through the case of Roman Hryn' (Transcarpathia, 1968–1970). This makes it possible to show how private correspondence became an object of political control.
Methods. The study combines a microhistorical approach (Carlo Ginzburg, Giovanni Levi) with the principle of “reading against the grain” (Ann Laura Stoler, Cristina Vatulescu, Katherine Verdery). The empirical basis is the criminal case of Roman Hryn' from the Branch State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine in Uzhhorod (file S-5801, vols. 1–2), supplemented by documents from fond 16 of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR. The analysis draws on English-, Czech-, and Ukrainian-language studies of Soviet security services.
Results. The study reconstructs the full chain of perlustration, from customs and the postal service to KGB Department “V”, expert examinations, the prosecutor’s office, and a closed trial. Archival materials demonstrate that after 1968 the Soviet system intensified existing surveillance mechanisms rather than creating new ones. At the center of criminal prosecution was the “intent” of the author as reconstructed by the investigation, while the content of any individual letter played no independent role.
Conclusions. The case of Roman Hryn' reflects the systemic character of control over international communication in the late Soviet Ukrainian SSR. Perlustration formed part of the political apparatus. Borderland Transcarpathia occupied a special place in the operational attention of the KGB. The Soviet system criminalized private forms of transnational communication through a system of expert examinations and investigative evidence that formally masked political persecution as a matter of legal procedure.
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