An officer in The Internal Troops of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs (448)
2026-03-21 | 48 min.
Ihor reflects on his time serving as an officer in the Soviet Union’s Ministry of Interior troops. After volunteering for military service, he found himself travelling from Lviv to Lithuania to begin officer training in communications and field operations.
The training program brought together recruits from across the Soviet Union and beyond communications; these troops had a wide range of responsibilities—from guarding strategic facilities to responding to hostage crises and public disturbances.
This is a rare opportunity to hear the everyday realities of military service inside the Soviet security structure.
Listen to Ihor's first episode here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode447/
Episode extras here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode448/
Linked episodes
Moscow Coup - Brett, a US student's account
Moscow Coup - Kieran, a UK student's account
Moscow Coup - How the BBC announced the coup
Training to be a US Army Tank Commander
Defending the Fulda Gap
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Growing up in Soviet Ukraine in the 1960s and 70s (447)
2026-03-14 | 49 min.
Born in Lviv in Ukraine, in 1958, Ihor grew up in a city where borders shifted, but memories endured. In this episode, he recalls a childhood shaped by silence, censorship, and family stories that could only be told in private.
While official history came from Moscow, a very different past survived in the countryside—passed down by grandparents who had lived through empire, war, and occupation.
This is a unique personal account of what it meant to grow up in Soviet Ukraine in the 1950s and 60s.
Episode extras here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode447
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Help me preserve Cold War history via a simple monthly donation,
You’ll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and receive a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank-you, and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history.
Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/
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Secret Warriors - British Submarines during the Cold War (446)
2026-03-07 | 1 h 15 min.
During the Cold War, some of the most dangerous encounters between East and West took place far beneath the ocean’s surface.
I speak with historian Dr. Paul Brown, author of Secret Warriors: British Submarines during the Cold War. Brown reveals the extraordinary covert missions carried out by Royal Navy submarines as they monitored Soviet naval bases near Murmansk and the Barents Sea.
British boats gathered vital intelligence by recording the acoustic signatures of Soviet submarines, trailing enemy vessels, and observing major naval exercises. These missions were risky and occasionally resulted in collisions, such as the dramatic incident involving HMS Warspite in 1968.
Along the way, Brown shares remarkable stories of Cold War espionage at sea, including a daring intelligence operation where a British submarine secretly observed the Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev from just a few feet away.
This is a rare glimpse into one of the Cold War’s most secretive battlefields: the depths of the ocean.
Buy the book here and support the podcast
Episode extras here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode446
Similar episodes:
On Her Majesty’s Nuclear Submarine Service https://coldwarconversations.com/episode162/
From the Merchant Navy to Covert Hunter Killer Nuclear Submarine Missions https://coldwarconversations.com/episode388/
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Help me preserve Cold War history via a simple monthly donation,
You’ll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and receive a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank-you, and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history.
Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/
If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we also welcome one-off donations via the same link.
Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/
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American MiG Pilot: Inside the Top Secret USAF "Red Eagles" MiG Squadron Part 2 (445)
2026-02-28 | 48 min.
Lt Col Rob “Z-Man” Zettel is the author of American MiG Pilot - Inside the Top Secret USAF “Red Eagles. He tells the Red Eagles story for the first time through the experiences of a pilot who flew Soviet MiGs to their maximum performance in simulated combat engagements, often several times a day, against some of the very best fighter pilots hand-picked from the ranks of the USAF, US Navy and US Marine Corps.
With controls labelled in Russian and the only spare parts being the ones they could salvage, the pilots who climbed into the MiGs - the Red Eagles - accepted all of the risks associated with operating these aircraft.
Rob’s vivid accounts of training engagements put the reader right in the cockpit as he describes what it was like to be there day in and day out at one of the most access-restricted airfields in the entire USAF, flying MiGs.
In part two of our story, we join him for his first interview for the Red Eagles.
Buy the book here and support the podcast
Episode extras here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode445
Listen to Part 1 here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode444/
Similar episodes:
The first Western pilot to fly the MIG-29 Soviet fighter plane https://coldwarconversations.com/episode106/
Low Flying the USAF F-111 Nuclear Bomber & Operation EL Dorado Canyon https://coldwarconversations.com/episode358/
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Help me preserve Cold War history via a simple monthly donation,
You’ll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and receive a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank-you, and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history.
Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/
If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we also welcome one-off donations via the same link.
Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/
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High School Student to the Top Secret USAF Red Eagles Soviet MIG Squadron Part 1 (444)
2026-02-21 | 50 min.
Rob “Z-Man” Zettel is the author of American MiG Pilot - Inside the Top Secret USAF “Red Eagles. In part one of a two-part episode, he reveals how he made it into this top-secret US operation that wouldn't feel out of place in 'Top Gun'.
From a high school student with no aviation background, Rob discovered he had a natural aptitude for flying via the USAF Reserve Officer Training Corps. He then joined the USAF, progressing to an Aggressor Squadron where his unit replicated enemy tactics, techniques, and procedures.
Rob shares anecdotes of training, close calls in the air, and the intense journey through pilot training. He provides a vivid account of training engagements that puts you right in the cockpit.
Buy the book here and support the podcast
Episode extras here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode444
Go to https://surfshark.com/coldwardeal or use code COLDWARDEAL at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!
Help me preserve Cold War history via a simple monthly donation,
You’ll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and receive a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank-you, and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history.
Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/
If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we also welcome one-off donations via the same link.
Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/
Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast recommended by The New York Times.
Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more.
These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human.
This is Cold War history, told from the inside out.
We cover subjects such as spies, spying, the Iron Curtain, nuclear weapons, warfare, tanks, jet aircraft, fighters, bombers, transport aircraft, aviation, culture, and politics.
We also cover personalities such as Fidel Castro, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Mikhail Gorbachev, Konstantin Chernenko, Margaret Thatcher, John F. Kennedy, Josef Stalin, Richard Nixon, Lech Walesa, General Jaruzelski, Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Other subjects include Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, West Berlin, East Berlin, Cuban missile Crisis, Berlin Airlift, Bay of Pigs, SALT, Perestroika, Space Race, superpower, USSR, Soviet Union, DDR, GDR, East Germany, SDI, Vietnam War, Korean War, Solidarność, Fall of the Wall, Berliner Mauer, Trabant, Communist, Capitalist, Able Archer, KGB, Stasi, STB, SB, Securitate, CIA, NSA, MI5, MI6, Berlin Wall, escape, defection, Cuba, Albania, football, sport, Bulgaria, Soviet Union, Poland, China, Taiwan, Austria, West Germany, Solidarity, espionage, HUMINT, SIGINT, OSINT, IMINT, GEOINT, RAF, USAF, British Army, US Army, Red Army, Soviet Army, Afghanistan, NVA, East German Army, KAL007, T-72, T-64, Chieftain, M60
The podcast is for military veterans, school teachers, university lecturers, students and those interested in Cold War history, museums, bunkers, weapons, AFVs, wargamers, planes, A Level, GCSE students studying Superpower Relations and the Cold War.
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