"Back in the USSR" The secret services archive in 2018

In 1991, the reform of the way the archives were administered was designed to open up archives that have been inaccessible to date, and to make it easier to view them. While some new archive laws were drafted, problems arose when it came to implementing them. The basic decree issued by President Yeltsin in August 1991, that the KGB archive should be transferred to the state archive authorities, was forgotten. New regulations were openly sabotaged. Today, the secret services again have control over the archive material. As in Soviet times, they themselves decide how the documents should be stored and used. The regulations regarding the declassification and release of documents have become more stringent.