активка

English translation: act of subversion / 'active measure'

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:активка
English translation:act of subversion / 'active measure'
Entered by: Oleg Lozinskiy

09:49 Apr 1, 2015
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Government / Politics
Russian term or phrase: активка
This is in an article about the death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman. Context:

"Можно с большой долей вероятности предположить, что эта гипотетическая сделка была «активкой» врагов Аргентины в спецслужбах США и Израиля."

Something like "an act of sedition" maybe?

All suggestions gratefully received :)
Nicky Brown
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:02
act of subversion
Explanation:
In Russian slang "активка" = "активное мероприятие" as applied to intelligence agencies' activities in foreign countries.

Активные мероприятия — действия скрытного либо обманного характера, предпринимавшиеся с целью осуществления задач советской внешней политики. Их целью было воздействие на зарубежное общественное мнение, а также на действия отдельных лиц, государственных и общественных организаций. Такие мероприятия осуществляла Служба А Первого Главного управления КГБ, работавшего в тесном контакте с Международным отделом ЦК КПСС.

В широком смысле слова под активными мероприятиями понимались «мероприятия по созданию агентурных позиций в лагере противника и его окружении, ведению оперативных игр с противником, по дезинформированию, компрометации и разложению сил противника, выводу на территорию СССР лиц, представляющих оперативный интерес, по добыванию разведывательной информации и т. д.»[1]

Для осуществления активных мероприятий применялись следующие методы:

поддержка просоветских сил (коммунистические партии и некоторые другие левые партии в странах Запада, движение за мир). Такая поддержка дружественных сил осуществлялась страной и открыто.

операции по оказанию политического воздействия через лиц, скрывающих свои связи с разведкой или ничего не подозревающих, однако играющих активную роль в правительственных, политических, деловых, профсоюзных, научно-образовательных кругах своих стран, а также в прессе (агенты влияния).

дезинформация для введения в заблуждение общественного мнения или государственных деятелей, дискредитации отдельных лиц, организаций и политики вражеских стран и их союзников.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Активные_мероприятия

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 час (2015-04-01 11:17:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Active measures (Russian: Активные мероприятия) was a Soviet term for the actions of political warfare conducted by the Soviet security services (Cheka, OGPU, NKVD, KGB) to influence the course of world events, "in addition to collecting intelligence and producing politically correct assessment of it".[1] Active measures ranged "from media manipulations to special actions involving various degrees of violence". They were used both abroad and domestically. They included disinformation, propaganda, counterfeiting official documents, assassinations, and political repression, such as penetration in churches, and persecution of political dissidents.[1]

Active measures included the establishment and support of international front organizations (e.g. the World Peace Council); foreign communist, socialist and opposition parties; wars of national liberation in the Third World; and underground, revolutionary, insurgency, criminal, and terrorist groups.[1] The intelligence agencies of Eastern Bloc states also contributed to the program, providing operatives and intelligence for assassinations and other types of covert operations.[1]

Retired KGB Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin described active measures as "the heart and soul of Soviet intelligence": "Not intelligence collection, but subversion: active measures to weaken the West, to drive wedges in the Western community alliances of all sorts, particularly NATO, to sow discord among allies, to weaken the United States in the eyes of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and thus to prepare ground in case the war really occurs."[2]

Active measures was a system of special courses taught in the Andropov Institute of KGB situated at SVR headquarters in Yasenevo, near Moscow. The head of the "active measures department" was Yuri Modin, former controller of the Cambridge Five spy ring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_measures
Selected response from:

Oleg Lozinskiy
Russian Federation
Local time: 21:02
Grading comment
Thanks, Oleg, for your very prompt and very helpful response :)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4act of subversion
Oleg Lozinskiy
4"active measure" or "so-called active measure"
Rachel Douglas


  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
act of subversion


Explanation:
In Russian slang "активка" = "активное мероприятие" as applied to intelligence agencies' activities in foreign countries.

Активные мероприятия — действия скрытного либо обманного характера, предпринимавшиеся с целью осуществления задач советской внешней политики. Их целью было воздействие на зарубежное общественное мнение, а также на действия отдельных лиц, государственных и общественных организаций. Такие мероприятия осуществляла Служба А Первого Главного управления КГБ, работавшего в тесном контакте с Международным отделом ЦК КПСС.

В широком смысле слова под активными мероприятиями понимались «мероприятия по созданию агентурных позиций в лагере противника и его окружении, ведению оперативных игр с противником, по дезинформированию, компрометации и разложению сил противника, выводу на территорию СССР лиц, представляющих оперативный интерес, по добыванию разведывательной информации и т. д.»[1]

Для осуществления активных мероприятий применялись следующие методы:

поддержка просоветских сил (коммунистические партии и некоторые другие левые партии в странах Запада, движение за мир). Такая поддержка дружественных сил осуществлялась страной и открыто.

операции по оказанию политического воздействия через лиц, скрывающих свои связи с разведкой или ничего не подозревающих, однако играющих активную роль в правительственных, политических, деловых, профсоюзных, научно-образовательных кругах своих стран, а также в прессе (агенты влияния).

дезинформация для введения в заблуждение общественного мнения или государственных деятелей, дискредитации отдельных лиц, организаций и политики вражеских стран и их союзников.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Активные_мероприятия

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 час (2015-04-01 11:17:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Active measures (Russian: Активные мероприятия) was a Soviet term for the actions of political warfare conducted by the Soviet security services (Cheka, OGPU, NKVD, KGB) to influence the course of world events, "in addition to collecting intelligence and producing politically correct assessment of it".[1] Active measures ranged "from media manipulations to special actions involving various degrees of violence". They were used both abroad and domestically. They included disinformation, propaganda, counterfeiting official documents, assassinations, and political repression, such as penetration in churches, and persecution of political dissidents.[1]

Active measures included the establishment and support of international front organizations (e.g. the World Peace Council); foreign communist, socialist and opposition parties; wars of national liberation in the Third World; and underground, revolutionary, insurgency, criminal, and terrorist groups.[1] The intelligence agencies of Eastern Bloc states also contributed to the program, providing operatives and intelligence for assassinations and other types of covert operations.[1]

Retired KGB Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin described active measures as "the heart and soul of Soviet intelligence": "Not intelligence collection, but subversion: active measures to weaken the West, to drive wedges in the Western community alliances of all sorts, particularly NATO, to sow discord among allies, to weaken the United States in the eyes of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and thus to prepare ground in case the war really occurs."[2]

Active measures was a system of special courses taught in the Andropov Institute of KGB situated at SVR headquarters in Yasenevo, near Moscow. The head of the "active measures department" was Yuri Modin, former controller of the Cambridge Five spy ring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_measures

Oleg Lozinskiy
Russian Federation
Local time: 21:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 80
Grading comment
Thanks, Oleg, for your very prompt and very helpful response :)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Boris Kochetkov
2 mins
  -> Спасибо, Борис!

agree  Mikhail Kropotov
1 hr
  -> Спасибо, Михаил!

agree  Alexander Grabowski
1 hr
  -> Спасибо, Александр!

agree  cyhul
23 hrs
  -> Thank you, cyhul!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
"active measure" or "so-called active measure"


Explanation:
Looks to me like a colloquial version of "активные меры", the category of intelligence agency operations. As far as I know, it's usually been translated as "active measures", often in quotation marks because it sounds a little strange in English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_measures

Google Books search is fun: somebody wrote an entire spy novel titled "Active Measures".
https://www.google.com/search?q="active measures"&btnG=Searc...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2015-04-01 13:24:52 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Oh, - I didn't see that Oleg had provided written definitions of "активные меры" in Russian already. It didn't occur to me that his suggested translation might have been based on that, since it's been translated into English as "active measures" for many decades.

Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 14:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 205
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search