Recent archival revelations have brought to light a startling chapter of the Cold War: in the 1970s, the Soviet KGB orchestrated covert operations to sabotage the growing solidarity between Ukrainian nationalist émigré communities and Jewish diaspora organizations. These newly surfaced documents and scholarly studies show that Moscow viewed the emerging Ukrainian-Jewish cooperation in the West – particularly their joint efforts to champion human rights in the USSR – as a serious threat. In response, Soviet authorities launched “active measures” (covert influence operations) to sow distrust and division. Their strategy was as cynical as it was calculated: forge lies, spread falsehoods, and turn natural allies against each other – all to protect the Kremlin’s narrative and discredit its critics.
One declassified KGB directive from the early 1970s reveals the modus operandi with chilling clarity. Soviet agents were ordered to fabricate letters in the names of supposed Ukrainian nationalist organizations, denouncing Jews as “sworn enemies of the Ukrainian people” and even invoking old canards (for instance, blaming Jews for the assassination of Ukrainian leader Symon Petliura in 1926). These poisonous forgeries – complete with imitation letterheads and forged signatures – were then mailed out to sow maximum discord. KGB operatives in Paris, for example, sent fake “nationalist” letters to Ukrainian community leaders warning against working with Jewish groups, while also posting threatening letters to Jewish organizations that appeared to come from Ukrainian ultra-nationalists. Each bogus missive was crafted to incite fear and anger: Ukrainian émigrés would read that “Jews have always been sworn enemies of the Ukrainian people,” while Jewish activists would receive vile screeds threatening them in the name of Ukrainian patriots. All of it was counterfeit. In other words, the KGB literally wrote letters to each side, pretending to be the other, to poison any chance of friendship.
At the same time, the KGB masterminded a parallel stream of fake propaganda to cement the rift it was manufacturing. Soviet operatives ghostwrote pamphlets, leaflets and even articles, then slipped them into circulation as if they were the authentic voice of the “other side.” In one instance, KGB units drafted leaflets as if from the mainstream Ukrainian nationalist camp, accusing their own hardliners of betraying the cause by befriending Jews. Simultaneously, they concocted materials as if from Jewish organizations, branding all Ukrainian freedom fighters as fascists and anti-Semites. Moscow’s agents tirelessly recycled old Soviet propaganda tropes – alleging, for example, that Ukrainian nationalists had engaged in monstrous anti-Jewish pogroms during WWII, far “exceeding” even Nazi crimes. They used an agent network (code-named “Rensky” among others) to funnel these fabricated accusations into Jewish newspapers in cities from New York and Toronto to Paris and Tel Aviv. In this way, the KGB played both puppet and puppeteer, creating the illusion of bitter hostilities that in reality only they were fomenting.
Historians now confirm that this elaborate disinformation campaign was a deliberate Soviet strategy to undermine Ukrainian-Jewish cooperation in exile. Top-secret communications show that the Kremlin’s goal was to “smear and discredit Ukrainian nationalists in the eyes of the Western Jewish community to break their alliance.” In July 1976, high-ranking Soviet Ukrainian officials in Kyiv went so far as to propose enlisting regime-friendly historians to flood Western audiences with “documents” (many of them falsified or taken out of context) highlighting instances of Ukrainian mistreatment of Jews in history. The Communist leadership explicitly instructed that any evidence of wartime violence by Ukrainians – even exaggerated or fabricated to “exceed” Nazi atrocities – would be “especially valuable to uncover the hypocrisy of Ukrainian immigrants who yesterday were killing the Jews and today are trying to ingratiate themselves with Zionists”. In essence, the Soviet state weaponized historical truth and falsehood in tandem: whatever it took to paint the Ukrainian independence movement as uniformly hateful, and thus to isolate it from Jewish sympathizers. These revelations, drawn from KGB files and research by contemporary scholars, fully expose how the Soviet authorities planned and executed a campaign to shatter the natural bond between two oppressed peoples. It is a sobering reminder of the lengths to which totalitarian regimes will go to rewrite the narrative and pit communities against one another.
Why does this matter for Savaryn Drive? Because the very same tactics of defamation and division are at the heart of why Peter Savaryn’s legacy has been called into question. Savaryn – a respected Canadian of Ukrainian heritage, a wartime refugee who became a champion of multiculturalism and human rights – was exactly the type of person the Soviet regime feared. As President of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians and an advocate for Soviet Jewish refuseniks, Savaryn stood for unity between Ukrainian and Jewish communities in defending truth. This made him, and people like him, prime targets of KGB slander. During the Cold War, Soviet propagandists routinely painted Ukrainian independence activists as “Nazi collaborators” and anti-Semites – not because of factual evidence, but because this lie was an effective political weapon. Every time we hear unsubstantiated accusations that figures like Savaryn must have harbored anti-Jewish sentiments or illicit pasts, we must remember: we may be hearing echoes of a KGB operation. The newly surfaced documents confirm what many in our communities have long felt – that some of the stigma attached to Ukrainian patriots was actively manufactured by the Soviet secret police, not borne out by historical truth.
Understanding this history is crucial. It means that removing Savaryn’s name under a cloud of innuendo would not be an act of moral purification – it could, unintentionally, be the fulfillment of a KGB disinformation plot from decades ago. The Soviets hoped that their forgeries and fake accusations would stick in the public mind, muddying the reputation of men like Peter Savaryn long after the USSR fell. We now have the facts to dispel those falsehoods. As the head of Ukraine’s Security Service poignantly noted when releasing some of these files, the KGB “tried to stir up unnatural hostility” between Ukrainians and Jews, and such cynical myths “have no right to exist.”. Our diverse Canadian society should not, even inadvertently, give new life to those old lies by erasing the very people who stood against them.
In light of this evidence, Savaryn Drive stands as more than a street name – it is a symbol. It represents a community’s resilience against foreign propaganda and a tribute to the truth that outlasted Soviet deceit. Preserving the name is a small but meaningful victory for historical truth over disinformation. We call on all supporters, civic leaders, and friends in the Jewish and Ukrainian communities to unite in this cause. Let us reject the KGB’s poison once and for all by recognizing it for what it was and is: baseless propaganda. And let us affirm that in Canada, we honor those who build bridges between communities, not tear them down.
Please continue to support our petition and encourage others to learn the real history. By keeping Savaryn Drive, we are not only defending one man’s honorable legacy, we are also taking a stand against the Kremlin’s 20th-century falsehoods that cynically sought to divide good people. In doing so, we uphold the very ideals Peter Savaryn devoted his life to – unity, understanding, and freedom from tyranny. Join us in this stand for historical truth and resilience. Sign and share the petition, and help ensure that Edmonton’s Savaryn Drive remains a proud reminder that truth can prevail over lies, and that the bonds of friendship between communities are stronger than any Soviet smear campaign. Together, we will protect historical truth and honor the real story – one of cooperation, justice, and the triumph of solidarity over disinformation.