Listen to and download our programmes
In October 1966 a Soviet double agent escaped from a British jail.
The Russian painter who created a world-famous collection of forbidden Soviet art
The student who appealed for the world's help when Soviet tanks invaded Czechoslovakia
As rebellion swept across Europe, Polish students called for democratic change in Poland
Russia's first radio DJ, Seva Novgorodsev, went on air at the height of the Cold War
In 1973, the most successful TV spy series ever to be broadcast in the USSR, went on air.
How the Soviet dissident smuggled his writing to the outside world.
On 13 February 1974 the Russian dissident writer was sent into exile in the West
The dissident poet was sentenced to 7 years in a Soviet labour camp.
In November 1975, an incredible mutiny took place aboard a Soviet warship in the Baltic.
In January 1977 an opposition movement began in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia.
In 1979, an outbreak of anthrax poisoning caused dozens of deaths in the Soviet Union.
The Bulgarian dissident was attacked with a poisoned umbrella on his way to Bush House.
It's exactly thirty years since Soviet forces overthrew the Afghan government.
It's exactly thirty years since Soviet soldiers invaded Afghanistan - part two.
How Soviet double agent Oleg Gordievsky escaped from under the noses of the KGB in 1985
In April 1986 a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine
In December 1986 the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov was allowed to return to Moscow.
Reform in the Soviet Union, known as perestroika, was launched 25 years ago in 1987.
A German teenager managed to evade Soviet defences to land in Moscow's Red Square.
On 15 February 1989, the last Soviet soldiers rolled out of Afghanistan.
In March 1989, Soviet citizens were given a chance to vote for non-communists candidates
The Polish trade union Solidarity was legalised once again in April 1989
Soviet troops crushed a mass demonstration in Georgia's capital Tbilisi on 9 April,1989
