Trust, but verify Trust, but verify Trust, but verify (; "Doveryat, no proverit") is a Russian proverb. The phrase became well known in English when used by President Ronald Reagan on multiple occasions in the context of nuclear disarmament. Suzanne Massie, an American writer, met with President Ronald Reagan many times between 1984 and 1987. She taught him the Russian proverb "Doveryai, no proveryai" (; "Trust, but verify"), advising him that "The Russians like to talk in proverbs. It would be nice of you to know a few. You are an actor – you can learn them very quickly." The proverb was adopted
Iceland in the Cold War KGB. Also, Oleg Gordievsky who became a KGB colonel, a secret agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985, and later defected to the West. Several KGB officials were arrested for espionage and declared persona non grata in Iceland. By the end of the Cold War, the town of Keflavík on the Reykjanes peninsula had become economically dependent on the US Air Base. Icelandic politicians lobbied US policy-makers, encouraging them to maintain the Icelandic Defense Force, even as Iceland's location ceased to be strategically important following the cessation of hostile rivalry between the United States and the