Editing Active measures (section)

=== Political assassinations ===
The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. [[Ion Mihai Pacepa]] claimed to have had a conversation with [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], who told him about "ten international leaders the Kremlin killed or tried to kill": [[László Rajk]] and [[Imre Nagy]] from Hungary; [[Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu]] and [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]] from Romania; [[Rudolf Slánský]] and [[Jan Masaryk]] from [[Czechoslovakia]]; the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]; [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq]], President of [[Pakistan]]; [[Palmiro Togliatti]] from Italy; [[John F. Kennedy]]; and [[Mao Zedong]]. Pacepa also discussed a KGB plot to kill Mao Zedong with the help of [[Lin Biao]] organized by the Soviet intelligence agencies and alleged that "among the leaders of Moscow's satellite intelligence services there was unanimous agreement that the KGB had been involved in the assassination of President Kennedy."<ref name="Pacepa0">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2006/11/kremlins-killing-ways-ion-mihai-pacepa/ |title=The Kremlin's Killing Ways |first1=Ion Mihai |last1=Pacepa |date=November 28, 2006 |magazine=National Review |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808171854/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzY4NWU2ZjY3YWYxMDllNWQ5MjQ3ZGJmMzg3MmQyNjQ%3D |archive-date=2007-08-08}}</ref>

The second President of [[Afghanistan]], [[Hafizullah Amin]], was killed by the KGB's [[Alpha Group]] in [[Operation Storm-333]] before the full-scale [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]] in 1979. Presidents of the unrecognized [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] organized by Chechen separatists, including [[Dzhokhar Dudaev]], [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiev]], [[Aslan Maskhadov]], and [[Abdul-Khalim Saidullaev]], were killed by the [[FSB (Russia)|FSB]] and affiliated forces.

Other widely publicized cases are murders of Russian communist [[Leon Trotsky]] and Bulgarian writer [[Georgi Markov]] by [[NKVD]].

There were also allegations that the KGB was behind the [[Pope John Paul II assassination attempt|assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II]] in 1981. The Italian [[Mitrokhin Commission]], headed by senator [[Paolo Guzzanti]] ([[Forza Italia]]), worked on the Mitrokhin Archives from 2003 to March 2006. The Mitrokhin Commission received criticism during and after its existence.<ref name="Unit">''[[L'Unità]]'', 1 December 2006.</ref> It was closed in March 2006 without any proof brought to its various controversial allegations, including the claim that [[Romano Prodi]], former Prime Minister of Italy and former [[President of the European Commission]], was the "KGB's man in Europe." One of Guzzanti's informers, [[Mario Scaramella]], was arrested for defamation and arms trading at the end of 2006.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/italy/story/0,,1962357,00.html |title=Spy expert at centre of storm |first=Barbara |last=McMahon |date=2 December 2006 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=13 December 2016 |archive-date=26 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200826024548/https://www.theguardian.com/italy/story/0,,1962357,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref>