KGB (Soviet Committee for State Security)

What it is: The KGB was the main security agency of the Soviet Union, formed on 13 March 1954 and dissolved on 3 December 1991 (Wikipedia). It ran foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence and secret police work, and favoured "active measures" such as disinformation. Yuri Andropov chaired it from 1967 to 1982, then Vitaly Fedorchuk (May to December 1982), Viktor Chebrikov (1982 to 1988) and Vladimir Kryuchkov (1988 to 1991).

The source for its India work: Nearly all that is known of its Punjab activity comes from the notes of Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB archivist who copied files by hand, defected to Britain with them in 1992, and whose material Christopher Andrew turned into books in 1999 and 2005. British Home Secretary Jack Straw said the material had "no direct evidential value" but was of "huge value" for intelligence. No original documents have been released, and many scholars are sceptical (Wikipedia).

What the notes say: Andrew and Mitrokhin write that the KGB claimed to have planted 3,789 articles in Indian newspapers in 1972 and 5,510 in 1975. In 1981 it launched Operation Kontakt, built on a forged document said to detail ISI weapons and money for Sikh militants who wanted an independent country. In November 1982 Andropov approved fabricating further Pakistani documents on ISI plans to stir religious disturbances in Punjab and promote Khalistan. A Sunday Times review, as collected on a reviews page, says Mrs Gandhi was fed forged documents purporting to show that Pakistan was behind the growth of Sikh separatism. Wikipedia adds that the book says her decision to move troops into Punjab rested on Soviet information about CIA support for the Sikhs.

Key moments

• 1954: the KGB is formed.
• Autumn 1981: Operation Kontakt begins.
• November 1982: Andropov approves a further forgery.
• 1991: the KGB is dissolved.
• 1992: Mitrokhin defects to Britain.

Where it stands: The KGB no longer exists. The claim that it shaped Delhi's view of Punjab is disputed: Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi called the Mitrokhin allegations about Indira Gandhi "pure sensationalism" (Wikipedia).