On July 25, 1971, the head of the KGB's FCD First (North American) Department, Anatoli Tikhonovich Kireyev, instructed the New York residency to proceed with the operation.
The plan was initially conceived in the late 1960s by the KGB, the intelligence agency of the Soviet Union, as part of a broader effort to destabilize the United States and weaken its influence around the world.
The KGB hoped to use these groups to incite violence and chaos in the United States, with the ultimate goal of triggering a civil war and disrupting American society and government.
The plan was ultimately foiled by U.S. law enforcement, who discovered and dismantled a KGB spy ring in the United States in the early 1980s.
The exposure of the plot led to increased scrutiny of Soviet intelligence activities in the United States and highlighted the ongoing threat posed by foreign espionage and subversion.