Establishing the Top-Secret Hotline

Named after an 18th century Russian poet, the top-secret telephone hotline was established in the Cold War to arrange back-channel, neutral-ground meetings between Russian and American spy agencies short notice. The hotline connected KGB headquarters in Moscow with CIA headquarters in Langley, VA.

Early 1980s: While President Reagan was putting the “evil empire” on notice, the first steps were taken to establish the “Gavrilov channel.”

1984: CIA requests KGB’s help in determining the fate of William Buckley, the CIA’s Beirut station chief, who had been kidnapped by Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terrorists.

1988: Rem Krassilnikov, chief of the U.S. department of the KGB’s Second Chief Directorate, talked to Jack Downing, the CIA’s Moscow station chief, about reopening channel.

1989: Gavrilov summit held at Soviet Embassy in Helsinki.

August 1990: CIA seeks KGB cooperation in building an international coalition to oppose Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. KGB asks for CIA help in determining the fate of a Soviet diplomat who had vanished in India.

October 1990: Summit in Karlshorst, Germany.

1990 and 1991: Gavrilov meetings are held more frequently as the KGB tries to deal with increasing numbers of defections from its ranks.

1991: KGB seeks information on death of Leonid Nikitenko, a KGB counterintelligence chief, in Brazil. It was determined that Nikitenko had simply died of a heart attack.

Late 1991 and 1992: As the Soviet Union collapses, the Gavrilov channel comes out into the open and becomes the basis for a new, official relationship between the CIA and the SVR, the successor agency to the Russian intelligence agency.

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About This Series

Once it was the world’s most mysterious and feared espionage organization, the “sword and shield” of the Soviet Union. But ultimately the KGB fell victim to the same forces of history that destroyed the empire it had served.

For the most part, the last KGB officers slipped away, retaining the cloak of secrecy. But now a group of former officers has stepped forward to provide an insider’s guide. They agreed to a series of interviews with the Los Angeles Times, in part to put on the record what they see as their sacrifices and professionalism in a cause now widely denigrated.

* Monday: The spy who directed Aldrich H. Ames.

* Tuesday: Two enemies, two friends.

* Today: The Gavrilov channel, the KGB-CIA hotline.

* On the Web: The complete series is available on The Times’ Web site at https://www.latimes.com/kgb