# The KGB against the Ukrainian diaspora: 'active measures'

> For years the KGB waged 'active measures' against the Ukrainian diaspora abroad — imposing Moscow's version, sowing discord, planting agents. The roots of today's disinformation.

Canonical: https://holospravdy.com/en/kgb-active-measures-diaspora
Period: holodna-viyna | Type: spoke | Updated: 2026-06-18

**TL;DR.** Russian disinformation against Ukrainians is not an invention of 2014. As far back as the Cold War, the Soviet intelligence services waged planned **"active measures"** against the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada and the USA: imposing the Soviet version of history, setting community leaders against one another through fabricated smears, and planting agents in diaspora organizations. The KGB spelled out the stages of this "decomposition" in a secret directive as early as 1962.

## A diaspora that worried Moscow

After the Second World War, the Ukrainian diaspora grew significantly stronger — especially in Canada, where it numbered around a million people. The postwar wave of emigration was **political**: it brought educated people and scholars who saw no future for themselves under the Bolshevik regime. Despite internal divisions into competing currents, the community united in the face of Moscow — and it was precisely this unity that alarmed the Soviet authorities[1].

## "Decomposition": the directive of 1962

The response was a targeted operation. From the late 1950s the KGB developed measures for the **"decomposition"** of the Ukrainian diaspora, and in 1962, under a "secret" classification, a work appeared by Colonel **Borys Shulzhenko**, deputy head of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, setting out the stages of this "decomposition"[2]. This was not a matter of isolated episodes but a systemic, documented policy.

## Three "active measures"

The term itself — **"active measures"** — is KGB jargon, and it has not disappeared to this day. According to Siromsky, they proceeded along three lines[3]:

1. **Imposing the Soviet interpretation** of events — both past and current.
2. **Sowing discord** among community leaders through fabricated smears: a false accusation of someone for theft or dishonorable conduct. Even after refutation, as the historian notes, "the residue remains."
3. **Infiltrating KGB agents** into influential positions in Ukrainian organizations — the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America — in order to provoke conflicts from within and promote the idea of a "cultural exchange" with the USSR instead of political resistance.

## What this means

The techniques now called "Russian hybrid disinformation" have a long Soviet pedigree. Fabricated compromising material, the splitting of communities from within, agents of influence, the imposition of the "correct" version of history — all of this the KGB systematically applied against the Ukrainian diaspora half a century ago. Understanding this continuity matters: contemporary Russian operations are not improvisation but the continuation of an old, well-honed school of active measures.

## Citation sources

[1] summary: «Після Другої світової війни українська діаспора — особливо в Канаді, де вона мільйонна, — зміцніла завдяки повоєнній політичній хвилі еміграції (освічені люди, науковці). Попри внутрішній поділ на конкурентні течії, перед лицем московського комуністичного режиму громада об'єднувалася — і це непокоїло Москву.» — Historian Every Saturday: Ruslan Siromskyi. The Cold War, the KGB, the Ukrainian diaspora (31.08.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F9pkNFG64Y (timecodes: 37:42, 39:21, 40:00)

[2] summary: «З кінця 1950-х КДБ розробляє цілі заходи з «розкладання» української діаспори. У 1962 році під грифом «секретно» вийшла праця полковника Бориса Шульженка, заступника голови КДБ УРСР, що розкривала етапи цього «розкладання».» — Historian Every Saturday: Ruslan Siromskyi. The Cold War, the KGB, the Ukrainian diaspora (31.08.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F9pkNFG64Y (timecodes: 41:00, 42:00)

[3] summary: ««Активні заходи» йшли в трьох напрямах: нав'язування радянського трактування подій минулого й сучасності; сіяння розбрату між лідерами громади через сфабриковані вкиди (фальшиві звинувачення, після спростування яких «осад лишається»); і впровадження агентів КДБ на впливові позиції в українських організаціях (Комітет українців Канади, Український конгресовий комітет Америки), щоб провокувати конфлікти й просувати «культурний обмін» із СРСР.» — Historian Every Saturday: Ruslan Siromskyi. The Cold War, the KGB, the Ukrainian diaspora (31.08.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F9pkNFG64Y (timecodes: 42:14, 43:00, 43:36)