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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics · Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, abbreviated USSR, commonly known as
Soviet Union, was a Marxist-Leninist federation of states on the Eurasian
continent that existed between 1922 and 1991. It was controlled by the
Russian Communist Party, with Moscow (Russia) as its capital.
The end of WWII marked the start of the
Cold War — a period of political, economic and military
tension between East and West, seperated by the
Iron Curtain.
It was a period in which each side developed its own cryptographic solutions
in order to minise the risk of being read by the other.
Over the years, the Soviet Union produced a range of cipher machines that were used by Russia and its Soviet satellites,
but also by the countries of the former Warsaw Pact,
such as the DDR (East-Germany), Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic States.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,
and the collapse of the Soviet Union
a few years later, most machines were
withdrawn by the Russians and have subsequently been destroyed.
Only very few machines have escaped the sledge hammer, some of which
are covered on this website. For equipment used in the post-Soviet era,
check out our page about Russian cipher equipment.
➤ Russia (post-Soviet era)
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USSR cipher machines on this website
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Known USSR cipher machines
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The prefix 'M' denotes an offline cipher machine.
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The prefix 'T' denotes an online cipher machine.
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Shortly before WWII, the Russians bought a couple of
Hagelin B-211
machines and copied the design. The machine became known
as K-37 (Crystal) and was modified for the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet,
providing 30 characters rather than the standard 25.
There are currently no known surviving K-37 machines, although a
photograph of one was published in the memoires of Boris Hagelin.
➤ More information
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The M-125 (codename: Fialka) was one of the most beautiful and compact
electro-mechanical cipher machines produced by the USSR during the Cold War.
It was used by most Warsaw Pact countries, including Russia itself.
It has a built-in printer, paper puncher, paper tape reader and a
10-wheel cipher machine with irregular wheel stepping.
➤ More information
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The M-105 (AGAT) was an off-line cipher machine developed in the USSR
in the mid-1960s and used by all countries of the Warsaw Pact.
The machine uses a wide 11-level punched paper tape as the key.
➤ More information
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The M-130 (codename: Korall) was used for the encrypted distribution of
weather reports between the former Warsaw Pact countries. It was intended to
be used in case a war broke out between East and West.
As the weather reports were further distributed via other cipher machines,
the enemy could exploit them as a possible crib. For that reason, the
meteorological data had to be encrypted.
➤ More information
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At the height of the Cold War, the Americans and the Russians installed
a Direct Communication Link (DCL) between Washington and Moscow. It allowed
direct exchange of teleprinter messages between the two nations.
The DCL became known as the Washington-Moscow Hotline,
or Hotline for short.
➤ More information
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The T-219 (codename: Yachta, Яхта) was a voice scrambler, used by the Soviet
Union during the Cold War. In consists of a remote control unit and a main
scrambler unit, and was commonly installed in the radio shelter of a
GAZ-66 truck, as part of the R-142 radio set.
➤ More information
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Wednesday 03 August 2011. Last changed: Friday, 13 December 2024 - 10:31 CET.
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