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Studies in Intelligence Vol. 69, No. 4 (Extracts, December 2025)

Review Essay: Razvedchik, Russia's Intelligence Journal

Reviewed by Mel Miller, a Russian linguist and author of Discovering Hidden Gems in Foreign Language (Springer Nature, 2023)

Introduction

In December 2022, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (best known by its Russian initials SVR) published its first quarterly issue of the journal Razvedchik. Several months into Russia’s “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine, the journal provided a platform for the SVR to tell happy stories of intelligence successes past and present. This was more important than ever, considering their war wasn’t going as planned. Since then, in the 11 issues available, Razvedchik offers a Russia-centric version of Studies in Intelligence that will be as interesting as it is frustrating to those used to reading quality espionage literature.

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