The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, known in the West as Joe-1, on Aug. 29, 1949, at Semipalatinsk Test Site, in Kazakhstan. The Soviets called their first atomic test "First Lightning." ...

The Dutch writer Karel van het Reve, an ally of Soviet dissidents who helped disseminate their writings abroad, once received a certificate from them that declared him “an honourable and ...