Editing Cold War espionage (section)

== Soviet satellite surveillance systems ==
[[Zenit (satellite)|Zenit]] (Zenith) - The Zenith Satellite program, was a satellite program developed by the Soviet Union and used from 1961 to 1994.  During the course of its lifespan over 500 Zenith satellites were launched, making it the most used satellite system ever.  The Soviets concealed the nature of the system by giving the satellites the Kosmos designation.  The Zenith satellites had an advantage over the satellites developed by the United States, in that they could be reused.  A total of eight variants would be developed for a variety of mission types, ranging from high-resolution photography to ELINT to cartographic and topographic missions.

[[Yantar (satellite)|Yantar]] - The Yantar satellites, designed to replace the Zenit satellite system, are among the newest Russian satellites. Yantar satellites have been launched as recently as 2015.  Two variants of the satellite have been developed for high-resolution photography and for medium-resolution broad spectrum imaging.