Jakob Andersen med Oleg Gordievsky: "De Rde Spioner KGB's operationer i Danmark fra Stalin til Jeltsin, fra Stauning til Nyrup", Hst & Sn, Copenhagen (2002). Foot, he said, had met his KGB handlers over lunch at the Gay Hussar, a Hungarian restaurant in Londons Soho, and received the equivalent of 37,000 in todays money for being a confidential contact. Its an old Stalinist technique called maskirovka, little masquerade, which means confusing everybody so that nobody knows what is real and what isnt. Pettit (second right) stood next toGordievsky (left) as they stopped for a photograph on their way through Finland during the daring escape, Russian spy Gordievsky, widely acknowledged to be the most valuable secret service mole at the heart of the KGB, with his ex-wife Mrs Leyla Gordievsky. Mikhail Lyubimov, his mentor, a Soviet spy. [5] His second posting to Denmark ended in 1978, and he was recalled to Moscow this time for a lengthy period because he quickly divorced his wife and married a woman he had been having an affair with, and the KGB frowned upon affairs and divorces as immoral. He was suspected of espionage for a foreign power, but his superiors stalled on taking any overt further action against him. The remnants of the KGB are still really angry about Gordievsky. Macintyre writes that Foot wasnt a Soviet spy. IMDb Best of 2022. Gordievsky heard all about it as a senior KGB operative, but quickly passed word on to his handlers, who took it to the highest level. There was great suspicion that a high-ranking American CIA officer, Aldrich Ames, who had been selling secrets to the KGB, reported Gordievsky's treachery to Soviet counterintelligence. He enrolled at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations at age 17. Thus, by one swift stroke of fate, he was inducted into the dangerous world of spies, in 1961. Although he joined at a young age, his heart was never really in it. . By then, he had been made the chief of KGB at the London embassy. [3], In April 2008, the media reported that on 2 November 2007, Gordievsky had been taken by ambulance from his home in Surrey to a local hospital, where he spent 34 hours unconscious. If youd like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. It was a hair-raising journey featuring a KGB pursuit, a smelly nappy and a bag of crisps. Haydn : One of the composers. His entire life, right from childhood, was shaped by the KGB. Born during a tumultuous time in Russia, Gordievsky was conditioned into thinking that there was no life beyond the USSR and the KGB. His father and elder brother both were KGB officials. Gordievskys manner during these early encounters was oddly calm, leading the Brits to wonder if they were the victims of a classic KGB dangle. You can still enjoy your subscription until the end of your current billing period. Play it now! In 1975, after a year of passing valuable information the West, he was called back to Moscow. He came to believe that he was serving a corrupt, barbarian regime. Gordievskys British contacts were a colourful bunch. In the 2009 ITV programme Inside MI5: The Real Spooks, he recounted how he saw the head of the British section of the KGB express surprise at the allegations that he read in a British newspaper about Roger Hollis being a KGB agent: "Why is it they are speaking about Roger Hollis, such nonsense, can't understand it, it must be some special British trick directed against us". Covert surveillance photographs of Gordievsky taken by the Danish intelligence service PET during his postings to Copenhagen. While in London, his MI6 code name was NOCTON. The MI6 had to share Gordievskys whereabouts with the Americans. Oleg Gordievsky, writes Ben Macintyre, is a brave man, and a lonely one. p&p of 1.99. Confusion. Gordievsky described Valerie as a 'perfectionist' who 'always showed me great kindness and a lot of patience'. He knows all too well the KGBs view of treachery, and that his enemies play a long game. Oleg Gordievsky in his KGB uniform (left); his wife Leila (right) Gordievsky had been brought up a loyalist, the son of a KGB agent, but his stomach was turned by the sight of the Berlin. ' our meeting lasted four hours and after that i met her several times again,' he said. So Im walking with Macintyre, a short, bespectacled 55-year-old with a tweed jacket and a fierce intelligence, through Corams Fields near Holborn. According to Gordievsky the KGB made regular payments to Foot in the 1950s and 60s, up until the Prague Spring. It was love at first sight for the pair but it meant Gordievsky had to worry about keeping the relationship from his shrewish wife Yelena as much as keeping his professional secrets from his KGB superiors. The only thing they were insistent on was that I didnt identify any of the intelligence officers by name., And why were those former agents so happy to talk? Self - Wife of Defector; 1990 1 ep; Credits. Far from disappearing, because we do everything online now, the secret world is more important than ever. It didnt materialise. Although he almost certainly remained under KGB surveillance, Gordievsky managed to send a covert signal to MI6, which activated the elaborate escape plan, Pimlico, that had been in place for many years for just such an emergency. Oleg's first wife. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. An operation named RYAN was put in place to find out the details of the attack. Oleg was briefing both sides. Some 20 minutes later he was passed by a man holding a Harrod's carrier bag and eating a Mars Bar. He sat in the back of a Finnish rental car as Pettit drove them north for the Norwegian border. The allegiance of Hollis remains a debated historical issue; the MI5 official website has cited Gordievsky's revelation as a vindication of Hollis. At lunchtimes he would slip out of the embassy and hand over microfilm strips to his case officer for copying. After getting trained in the tricks of the trade, Gordievsky chose his first spy name, Guardiyetsev.. But he has interviewed all of the former officers involved in the case, who tell their stories for the first time. Gordievsky remains under sentence of death. Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel. ", "How Britain's best Cold War spy was smuggled out of the Soviet Union", "Double agent Gordievsky claims he was poisoned by the Kremlin", "Former KGB defector claims he was poisoned by Russians", "SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL ENTERS THE WORLD OF GLOBAL ESPIONAGE IN SPY WARS WITH DAMIAN LEWIS", Biographer Ben Macintyre summarizes Gordievsky's life, career, and escape from the USSR, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oleg_Gordievsky&oldid=1150970448. [31] Gordievsky accused MI6 of trying to suppress the incident from being known. Ames first met and sold classified information to a KGB agent on 15 May 1985, in Washington, DC; the following day Gordievsky received the telegram from KGB leadership recalling him to Moscow. There were huge protests outside the Russian embassy in Denmark, which made him feel ashamed. The daughter of a Russian. For 11 years, he spied for MI6. MI6 was waiting. In an emergency, Gordievsky would turn up wearing a grey cap and holding a plastic Safeway bag. Ben Macintyres wonderful The Spy and the Traitor complements and enhances Gordievskys first-person account. Gordievsky has told the story of his own improbable survival in a gripping 1995 memoir, Next Stop Execution. An MI6 agent walked past carrying a Harrods bag, eating a Mars bar, and the two made eye contact. MI6s top spy within the KGB made an amazing escape to the west thanks to the quick-thinking wives of British agents sent to protect him, a new book has revealed. Gordievsky, a keen badminton player, and right in his KGB uniform, switched his loyalty from Moscow to the West and took on the dangerous role of a double agent. Actually, Gordievsky had already decided to switch sides a betrayal Macintyre calls whole-souled and righteous. university After his escape, Gordievsky was given a safe house in the suburbs, where he still lives. Just minutes later the cars parked up in a clearing in a forest where Pettit was waiting. No one like Bond ever existed., After years building up contacts through his work as a journalist, Macintyre had help in approaching Gordievsky. The blanket would stop him being seen by infrared cameras as the car passed across the border into Finland. Mr Gordievsky, who became the highest-ranking Soviet spy to defect to the West, escaped to Britain in 1985. Phone orders min. He was initially paralysed and still has no feeling in his fingers. Paul Bracchi for the Daily Mail Oleg Gordievsky and Leila Alieva met in Copenhagen: she was a typist for the World Health Organization; he was an unhappily married KGB officer, and a spy for MI6. And she is still looked after by MI6. What it's REALLY like being married to a healthy-eating fanatic: Dr Chris van Tulleken banned ready meals, tuts at his wife's favourite Pret sandwich - and then he came for her peanut butter, Cops discovered a bone fragment on a hacksaw dumped in the trash by accused killer Brian Walshe - along with his missing wife's vaccination card and car keys, court documents reveal, Just WHY are people sending more and more voice notes? By Former intelligence officers had to go back and ask permission to talk to me, but I was given total access. Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, CMG ( ; born 10 October 1938) is a former colonel of the KGB who became KGB resident-designate ( rezident) and bureau chief in London, and was a double agent, providing information to the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1974 to 1985. Gordievsky got disenchanted with the KGB and by Russia after their invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Oleg Gordievsky was the most significant British agent of the cold war. He was accompanied in his car by wife Caroline and their 15-month old daughter Florence, while in the other vehicle was his deputy Arthur Gee and wife Rachel. The wife and daughters of Oleg Gordievsky arrived today in London to be reunited with him six years after he quit the K.G.B. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/oleg-gordievsky-45102.php, 20th Century Film & Theater Personalities, 21st Century Film & Theater Personalities, 20th Century British Film & Theater Personalities, 21st Century British Film & Theater Personalities. However, he could not risk trying to escape openly. 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We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Im told Vladimir Putin has a personal axe to grind when it comes to Oleg. Others were gifted working-class linguists recruited from Oxbridge. Gordievsky was featured in the PBS documentary Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy. Gen Z says telephone calls are microaggressions and sending an audio clip is more personal than a text, FBI joins manhunt for Texas killer who has been on the run for 36 hours after murdering family of five - including eight-year-old - after they asked him to stop firing his AR-15 rifle in his backyard, 'Vaping is the crack cocaine of tobacco': Experts say ultra-concentrated hit of nicotine makes devices WORSE than smoking - as data shows cigarette use at historic low, Could YOU spot a murderer? However, he now became sceptical. Gordievsky, MI6 discovered, was a star asset. There were stages in his journey. His visa was cleared by the Danes intentionally, in consultation with the MI6. He was approached by the British intelligence head of the local station, codenamed Bromhead. His codename was SUNBEAM. He calmly accepted to take up the dubious role. After his short test in Berlin, Gordievsky was sent to the KGB covert training centre called School 101, deep into the woods in North Moscow, along with 120 other trainees. The Skripal case gave this story an immediacy that I had not anticipated. The rivalry between the MI6 and the CIA about gathering intelligence put their most prized agent at risk after 1982. False identities are being created all the time online, but at the end it does still come down to two people looking each other in the eye and saying, OK, I trust you.. He resolved to fight the communist system from the inside. In the meantime, he had learned English and closely studied the KGBs British files. The Soviet Union subsequently sentenced him to death in absentia. We support credit card, debit card and PayPal payments. Indeed, the information passed by Gordievsky became the first proof of how worried the Soviet leadership had become about the possibility of a NATO nuclear first strike. They didnt interfere, but they didnt stop me. Gordievsky had been recruited by the West in the late 1960s while stationed with the KGB in Denmark and had been persuaded to become a double agent during a game of badminton. Upon his arrival in Moscow, he was sure that he was under surveillance and his house was bugged. After defecting to the UK in 1985, Gordievsky did not meet his family for 6 years, till they were allowed to leave Moscow in 1991, and join the spy. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR, outwitting their Russian adversaries. Description. Though both the Gordievsky brothers were stationed together in East Germany, for a short period of time in 1961, they had no idea about the nature of each others work, maintaining the same kind of secrecy that was the norm in their family. Asked if he knew anybody who might be of interest to western intelligence, Kaplan threw out a few names, including that of Gordievsky, who was a friend from the KGB academy, aware of the drawbacks of communism, and not so different from him, he said. Leila Gordievsky. Telemann : One of the composers. Oleg was assigned to the Soviet Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the job of supporting "illegals" in the . Gordievsky remains a passionate Anglophile, subscribing to The Spectator and penning articles for the Literary Review. Oleg A. Gordievsky: A secret agent. He told his wife Yelena nothing of what he was up to. One opened a bag of cheese-and-onion crisps while another dropped her child's dirty nappy under the boot to disguise Gordievsky. Macintyre wrote: It [the dog] wolfed it down before being yanked away by the unsmiling handler.. But there is no doubt that he played a profound role in undermining the Soviet system, not least by explaining the paranoia and fantastical thinking inside the KGB to western policymakers and agencies. He lost his marriage. Even more astounding was that in summer 1985 after Gordievsky was hastily recalled from London to Moscow by his suspicious bosses British intelligence officers helped him to escape. He escaped in the boot of MI6 officer's car in July 1985, For years these covert surveillance photos were the only images available of him. [26], In the Daily Telegraph in 2010, Charles Moore gave a "full account", which he said had been provided to him by Gordievsky shortly after Foot's death, of the extent of Foot's alleged KGB involvement. Oleg Gordievsky, Soviet spy and double agent. For tickets, go to www.cvhf.org.uk or call 01722 781133. [2] He was suddenly summoned back to Moscow via a telegram on 16 May 1985. The following day, Gordievsky kissed his wife Leila and his two daughters and flew to Moscow, having been summoned back to face his masters, who suspected him of treachery. They injected him with a truth drug but Gordievsky gave nothing away, so he was released. In the summer of 1982 Gordievsky moved to London and began regular meetings at a Bayswater safe house with his MI6 handlers. He sold info on all double agents in KGB working for CIA and then this new info about Oleg. and Mrs Leyca Gordievsky (centre) with her children Maria and Annia she is the wife of former KGB defector Oleg Geordievsky Later that evening, two MI6 officers Roy Ascot, the MI6 station chief. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many users needs. That was when she, for the first time in her life, disapproved the regime and voiced her anger openly. However, there was no need to execute the plan at the time. Betrayal eventually came from a venal CIA officer, Aldrich Ames, who tipped off Moscow Ames is the traitor of the books title. His father, his brother, and his first wife were all members of the infamous organization. They talk about their new life in England now Leila and the children have been allowed to join him after 6 years, and the possibility of a return to Russia and Moscow, their home town. The dog duly slunk off, says Macintyre. analyse how our Sites are used. This was the time when a mass exodus from East to West Berlin was taking place and the infamous Berlin wall was getting built. [2], Soviet authorities subsequently sentenced Gordievsky to death in absentia for treason,[17] a sentence never rescinded by post-Soviet Russian authorities, but which cannot be legally carried out because of Russia's then-membership in the Council of Europe. Newly released National Archives documents reveal Mr Gordievsky's anxiety in the immediate days after his defection when British entreaties failed to persuade the Kremlin to allow his wife,. [13], An elaborate escape plan from the USSR had been already devised for Gordievsky by MI6 in 1978, when the KGB called him back to Moscow for a few years after his second three-year stint in Copenhagen. It charts his recruitment by the KGB, where his older brother Vasili served as a deep-cover illegal, and Gordievskys growing disillusionment with the grey totalitarian world of 1960s Moscow. MI6 boosted Gordievskys career by feeding him real, low-grade intelligence and by removing rival spies who threatened to expose him. One MI6 officer, years later, revealed he never wanted to see another KitKat because those monitoring the spot got used to carrying around a chocolate bar just in case. Of course they are still at it. [12] Nevertheless, biographer Ben Macintyre and most people involved in the Gordievsky case believe that during his first visit with the KGB in Washington in early May 1985, Ames provided sufficient information to prompt an investigation by Colonel Viktor Budanov, the KGB's top investigator, and trigger Gordievsky's recall. 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The Institute of International Relations housed a small KGB station, which began looking for new recruits. [2] A September 2018 article indicated that by that time he was living in an undisclosed location in the Home counties of England. And when former spies think of spilling their secrets and telling their amazing stories at last, Ben Macintyre is clearly the man they trust. Please. The University of Buckingham bestowed upon him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters in 2005. This is where Gordievsky carried out his last dead-drop, hiding 8,000 in the bushes for a newly arrived Soviet spy. [2], Two of Gordievsky's most important contributions were averting a potential nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union, when NATO exercise Able Archer 83 was misinterpreted by the Soviets as a potential first strike,[10] and identifying Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet heir-apparent long before he came to prominence. As soon as he arrived he realised he had been rumbled. personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to When a 90-year-old retired Foreign Office secretary died recently the secrets of her Cold War past could finally be revealed. [2] In 1974 he agreed to pass secrets to MI6, a step he viewed as "nothing less than undermining the Soviet system". We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Gordievsky was sent to East Germany as a translator in August 1961, for a short tenure of 6 months. The plan was simple, and almost comic. IfGordievsky found himself in trouble he was told to arm himself with a Safeway shopping bag and stand at a certain central Moscow street corner at exactly 7.30pm on a Tuesday. Gordievsky described to Leila the Englishmen he'd met in Copenhagen witty, sophisticated people, full of laughter and generosity. Macintyre's book claims he was also the source of the information that alleged former Labour leader Michael Foot was giving information to the Russians in the late 1980s. For tickets, go to, Chalke Valley History Festival 24th 30th June 2019 The largest Festival dedicated entirely to History in the UK, Do not sell or share my personal information. A packet of pills to keep him alert and a pouch of snuff to disguise the smell from Russian sniffer dogs, given to him by Pettit, meant he was able to evade surveillance and set Operation Pimlico in motion. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. [2], Unbeknownst to him, Gordievsky had been betrayed in early May (or early June 1985 at the latest) by CIA officer Aldrich Ames. [4] The building of the wall appalled him, and he became disillusioned with the Soviet system. [21] In 1995, the former British Labour Party leader Michael Foot received an out-of-court settlement (said to be "substantial") from The Sunday Times after the newspaper alleged, in articles derived from claims in the original manuscript of Gordievsky's book Next Stop Execution (1995), that Foot was a KGB "agent of influence" with the codename 'Boot'. He was put through grueling questioning for hours, but he did not divulge any information. He is known as one of the greatest spies in the world. The. 06:01 EDT 17 Sep 2018. He raised the alarm with his supermarket bag and gave his minders the slip. The Spy And The Traitor is published in paperback, with a new afterword, on May 30 (Penguin), 8.99. Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, CMG ( ; born 10 October 1938) is a former colonel of the KGB who became KGB resident-designate (rezident) and bureau chief in London, and was a double agent, providing information to the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1974 to 1985. 'She opened the boot to let me out,' wrote Gordievsky, now 81 and still living in a safehouse in Britain. He had a pretty South American wife that constantly asked for more money and he had to get it somehow to please her. [2], After he learned to speak English and lobbied heavily for a position that opened up in London, the KGB posted Gordievsky to London in June 1982. or The execution order on him has never been rescinded., Mikhail Gorbachev meets Margaret Thatcher at Chequers in 1984; Gordievsky had briefed them both, Macintyre believes Putin and the other former KGB officers who run Russia now are still up to their old tricks. All realised Gordievsky was unique. Salisbury reaction: 'It would be comical but for the fact someone died', Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. The comments below have not been moderated, By These mutual signals indicated that the escape plan was to be activated immediately. Macintyre described their relationship as passionate and loving, with Gordievsky admiring her lack of inhibition, vitality and dedication to family life and Leila seeing him as perfect. [11], Gordievsky was suddenly ordered back to Moscow in mid May 1985, a few weeks after he had been promoted to KGB station chief in London. In an interview with Seve Novgorodsev, sentenced in absentia at home to death, the traitor Gordievsky said first property from remaining in Moscow, his wife Leila (she is from a family of KGB) and two daughters wanted to confiscate it, but then the decision was canceled. The family loved life in the UK's capital and Gordievsky's career went from strength to strength; he was promoted four times, thanks to the British continually expelling his superiors. You could say it was the family business. I got very lucky. The comments below have not been moderated. But intelligence is more important than its ever been. Gordievskys mother was not thrilled when she was told that her younger son was following in his fathers footsteps. [2], On completion of his studies, Gordievsky joined the foreign service and was posted to East Berlin in August 1961, just before the erection of the Berlin Wall. This is one of the few cases in which spying changed history., Gordievsky was even more intimately involved in the next historic development, when the Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to London in 1984 for a meeting with the Prime Minister that would hasten the end of the Cold War. Leila and their two daughters joined Gordievsky in London with no idea he was working for the British. IMDb Best of 2022. Stalin: General secretary of the communist party. Hes paid an enormous cost. Theyre doing it on Facebook, theyre doing it on Twitter, but the technique is the same., What are they after? Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Oleg lost everything.
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