Russia Intelligence Agency: When it comes to the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world, the name of Russia’s KGB comes at the top. This agency was not limited to just espionage, but it also played a big role in the country’s security, politics and global strategy. During the Cold War, the KGB carried out many major operations, which are still discussed today. The special thing is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has also once worked for this agency.

People know the name of KGB, but do not know much about its work, history and recruitment process. So let us tell you today how the Russian intelligence agency KGB recruits spy agents.

What is KGB?

The full name of the KGB is Komitet Gosudarstvenoye Bezopasnosti, which means Committee of State Security. It was the main intelligence and security agency of the Soviet Union. Its headquarters were located in Moscow’s Lubyanka Square, which is still the center of Russia’s security agency.

How did KGB start?

KGB was established in the year 1954. It was created at a time when the Soviet Union needed a strong intelligence agency. Its job was to protect the country from external and internal threats. It was also called the sword and shield of the communist government. Before the KGB, there used to be an agency named NKGB, which was quite active during the Second World War. At that time, Soviet spies were so strong that they could even obtain information about the military activities of their allies. The KGB was at its peak during the Cold War. At that time the tension between America and the Soviet Union was very high. KGB spread espionage networks in many countries and played a big role in international politics. However, there were difficulties in making it work in America because there was a strict investigation going on against the communists during the Red Scare.

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When was Putin also a spy in this?

Russian President Vladimir Putin worked in the KGB from 1975 to 1991. He was a foreign intelligence officer and was part of many secret missions. However, the KGB was disbanded on 3 December 1991, when the Soviet Union broke up. After this, a new agency FSB was created in Russia, which is today the main security agency of the country and works like the KGB.

How Russian intelligence agency KGB recruits spy agents

It was not easy to join the KGB. There were strict rules and investigation process for this. Only Russian citizens could participate in it. The age of the candidate should generally be between 18 to 40 years. There should be no criminal case against him. People holding dual citizenship were not allowed. Those who had close relatives living abroad or had property abroad were also not included. Apart from this, the mental and physical ability of the candidate was also tested.

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US Israel Relations: The friendship between the United States and Israel has been seen during the ongoing war in the Middle East. But during the Cold War, a shocking military incident had strained relations between the two countries for some time. On June 8, 1967, a US Navy ship was attacked during a major conflict in the Middle East. Dozens of United States sailors were killed in this attack. This dispute continued for decades. This incident is known as the USS Liberty incident.

war in the middle east

This attack took place during the Six Day War. This was a small but deep conflict between Israel and several Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan and Syria. At that time the United States was not directly involved in the war. But he was keeping an eye on the developments happening in the area through intelligence operations. One of the ships involved in this monitoring effort was the USS Liberty. It was a signals intelligence ship tasked with intercepting communications in the eastern Mediterranean.

attack on uss liberty

On the afternoon of June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty was traveling in international waters near the Sinai Peninsula. According to the report, Israeli aircraft started circling around the ship before suddenly attacking. Israeli fighter jets attacked the ship several times. Along with this, they also fired with rockets and machine guns. After some time, Israeli torpedo boats also joined the attack. A torpedo hit the ship causing considerable damage.

a lot of damage

This attack lasted for several minutes and the American ship was badly damaged. The torpedo blast left a big hole in the ship’s hull. Approximately 40 feet wide. This caused excessive flooding and destruction. A total of 34 United States soldiers were killed and more than 170 were injured. Despite heavy losses, the crew managed to save the ship.

What was Israel’s response?

After this incident, Israel officially apologized to America. Israeli officials said the attack was a case of mistaken identity. According to his explanation, the Israeli army thought that the ship was the Egyptian ship El Qusayr. Israeli officials called the attack a tragic accident.

Investigation and ongoing controversy

The United States government conducted several investigations into the attack. This also includes a review of the United States Navy. These investigations concluded that the attack was probably the result of mistaken identity during wartime. Although this incident has been in dispute for decades. Some survivors and former military officers argued that the ship was clearly carrying an American flag and that the attackers should have recognized it.

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On November 2, US President Donald Trump, while giving an interview to CBS News, said that Pakistan is conducting nuclear tests. Now America needs to conduct nuclear tests again. Trump claimed that America has so many nuclear weapons that the world can be destroyed 150 times, but due to the activities of Russia and China, testing is necessary. It is noteworthy that America conducted its last nuclear test on 23 September 1992. Now due to Trump’s statement the nuclear bomb has come into discussion again.

So let us understand in ABP Explainer what is the meaning of Trump’s statement, why are all the countries increasing their nuclear stockpile and how this bomb can destroy the whole world 0 times…

Question 1- What statement did Donald Trump give regarding nuclear bombs and what is its meaning?
answer- On November 2, Donald Trump appeared on American news channel CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ program. Trump was asked that except North Korea, no one is doing nuclear test, so why are you doing it? On this, Trump said that Russia, Pakistan and China are also doing secret tests, but the world does not know. We have to talk about this because otherwise you guys will report. They don’t have journalists who can write about this. We will test, because they test, others also test and of course North Korea is testing. In fact Trump has already ordered the Ministry of Defense (Pentagon) to start testing nuclear weapons immediately.

On the question of when and where to conduct nuclear tests again after three decades, Trump simply said, ‘We have testing sites, it will be announced soon.’ When Trump was asked whether he thought this could lead the world into a more dangerous nuclear environment, Trump said, ‘I think we have kept it under control to a great extent.’

Question 2- When was the world’s first atomic bomb made and how many countries have this weapon?
answer- The making of the world’s first atomic bomb began in December 1938, when scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Straussmann in a German lab bombarded uranium-235 atoms with intense neutrons. Due to this, the uranium atom suddenly broke into two parts and a huge amount of energy was released. This experiment was called nuclear fission. Jewish scientist Lisa Meitner said that if it causes a chain reaction, tremendous energy will be released. American scientists felt that a major weapon had come into the hands of Nazi Germany.

After this, in June 1942, America started preparing to make the atom bomb secretly on the 18th floor of a building in Manhattan. The ‘Manhattan Project’ started under the leadership of American Brigadier General Leslie Groves and scientist Julius Robert Oppenheimer. 100 tons of uranium were collected in 2 months and Oppenheimer built a laboratory in the ravines of Los Alamos, New Mexico to work on the design.

Two years later, in July 1945, two bombs of uranium and plutonium were ready. On July 16, 1945, America successfully tested the first bomb in Trinity. On 6 August 1945, the uranium bomb ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and on 9 August 1945, the plutonium bomb ‘Fatman’ was dropped on Nagasaki. About 1.5 lakh people were killed instantly in both the blasts. After this many countries started making nuclear bombs.

• On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union made the atomic bomb ‘First Thunder’. The successful test took place at 7 am in the desert area near the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan (then part of the Soviet Union).
• On October 3, 1952, the United Kingdom created an atomic bomb named ‘Hurricane’. Successfully tested near Montebello Islands.
• On 13 February 1960, France successfully tested the nuclear bomb ‘Jerbois Blue’ in the Sahara Desert in Algeria (then a French colony).
• On October 16, 1964, the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in the Gobi Desert of Xinjiang province in China. This ‘Su596’ was a utanium-implosion fission bomb.
• On 18 May 1974, India conducted a successful nuclear test in Pokhran, Rajasthan. In this nuclear project named ‘Smiling Buddha’, P-1 i.e. Plutonium-Implosion Fission Device nuclear bomb was tested.
• On 28 May 1998, in response to India’s nuclear test, Pakistan also tested its first nuclear bomb ‘Chagai-1’. This happened in the Chagai hills of Balochistan province.
• On October 9, 2006, North Korea also made a nuclear bomb. This bomb was tested at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site in north-eastern Korea.

Question 3- When did which countries stop nuclear tests and why?
answer- The nuclear testing spree led to more than 2,000 explosions, most of which occurred between 1950–1990. But global protests increased due to radioactive fallout. In 1954, America’s Castle Bravo test sickened Japanese fishermen, causing an uproar in the world. After this, on April 2, 1954, the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru for the first time demanded a ‘Standstill Agreement’ i.e. a ban on tests.

The first major step in banning nuclear tests was the ‘Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), which was signed by the US, Soviet Union and Britain in Moscow on 5 August 1963. It came into force on 10 October 1963 and prohibited atmospheric, space and underwater tests. China did not sign PTBT. The most important measure to ban nuclear tests was the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996. Then it was signed by 76 countries. It completely banned all types of nuclear tests.

• Soviet Union: No confirmed explosive test has been conducted since 1990.
• America: No nuclear test has been conducted since 1992. The last atmospheric test was done in 1962.
• United Kingdom: The last nuclear test was conducted in 1991. There was no test after this.
• France: The last test was conducted underground in French Polynesia in 1996.
• China: By 1996, China limited the tests and stopped them altogether by July 29.
• India: The last successful nuclear test was conducted in Pokhran in 1998, which was named ‘Shakti-1’.
• Pakistan: The last nuclear test was conducted with ‘Chagai-2’ in 1998.
• North Korea: The last nuclear test was conducted in 2017. North Korea is the only country that conducted tests in the 21st century.

To avoid the threat of nuclear bombs, nuclear disarmament was started, which means completely eliminating nuclear weapons, so that the world becomes weapon-free. This is the origin of the NPT, which came into force on 5 March 1970. 191 countries signed. Under this, it was said that there should be a ban on making new weapons, destruction of existing ones and peaceful use.

Question 4- So now which countries have how many nuclear bombs and how many times can they destroy the world?
answer- According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a total of 9 countries in the world have nuclear weapons.

1. Russia has the maximum number of 5,459 nuclear bombs.
2. America has 5,177 nuclear bombs.
3. China has 600 nuclear weapons.
4. France has 290 nuclear bombs.
5. Britain has 225 nuclear bombs.
6. India has a stockpile of 180 nuclear bombs.
7. Pakistan has 170 nuclear bombs.
8. Israel has 90 nuclear bombs.
9. North Korea has 50 nuclear bombs.

Apart from this, there have been reports of Israel also having a nuclear bomb, but it has not been confirmed. It is said that Israel is secretly making nuclear bombs.

According to SIPRI report, a nuclear bomb can destroy a city within minutes. There are 12,241 nuclear warheads worldwide, whose total explosive capacity is more than 2,500 megatons. The Hiroshima bomb was 0.015 megatons, so this is equivalent to 1.66 lakh Hiroshima bombs. But the danger is not just explosion, but ‘nuclear winter’. If 100 Hiroshima-like bombs are dropped in a regional war like India-Pakistan, then 50 lakh tonnes of smoke will go into the stratosphere, which will block sunlight. Crops will be destroyed for two decades and people will die of starvation.

According to SIPRI report, about 3 thousand nuclear warheads can destroy the Earth 50-100 times. If this is estimated, then the world can be destroyed more than 300 times with a total of 12,241 nuclear warheads. Russia has the world’s most powerful nuclear bomb, which is named ‘Tsar Bomb’. It is of 50 megatons. But this danger is so great that scientists say, ‘Even a limited war can end civilization.’

Question 5- Are any countries still trying to make nuclear bombs?
answer- Apart from 9 countries, there are many ‘threshold states’ which can make weapons. Iran is at the top among these. According to the report of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) dated May 31, 2025, Iran has 408 kg of 60% uranium, which can make many bombs. Iran’s Kavir plan is working on long-range missiles, which is based on North Korean design. However, Israeli and American attacks have damaged Iran’s nuclear program to a great extent.

Apart from this, Saudi Arabia has said that if Iran makes a nuclear bomb, we will also make it. Public support has increased in South Korea and Japan, but is being held back due to American guarantees. Turkey and Germany are also ‘hedgers’, they have the capacity but not the political will. According to SIPRI, Iran-Israel tension may increase the regional competition to make nuclear bombs.

Question 6- So what is the meaning of Trump’s statement? Is the nuclear race about to start?
answer- Retired Lieutenant General of the Indian Army and defense expert Sanjay Kulkarni says, ‘The Russia-Ukraine war and America-China tension have created a situation like a second cold war. Russia had suspended the New START treaty in 2023, which set limits on the weapons of both countries. China is producing 100 new warheads every year. Pakistan is also conducting nuclear tests. The recent earthquakes that occurred in Afghanistan do not seem to be of any natural disaster but of nuclear testing.

Sanjay Kulkarni says that Trump has understood very well that a power like nuclear bomb should not increase in the hands of a country that promotes terrorism. They are openly warning that if the rest of the world does not give up on nuclear bombs, America will also start nuclear testing. Looking at the current situation, it seems that many countries are secretly working on making nuclear bombs. In such a situation, if nuclear war occurs, it will be difficult to control it.