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. The double life of a KGB insider recruited by MI6 features microfilm, Soviet secrets and a daring escape. Oleg Gordievsky in 1980, when he was still a double-agent At five o'clock on a Friday afternoon on July 19, 1985, a short, thick-set man in a worn jacket and corduroy trousers stepped out of a . He had a pretty South American wife that constantly asked for more money and he had to get it somehow to please her. The episode, The Man Who Saved The World, recounts the "years-long effort by Gordievsky to pass Soviet intelligence to the British, all but preventing a nuclear Armageddon between the Soviet Union and the West". [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. After Gordievskys brother died on duty, his request to leave Moscow was accepted in 1972, and he was sent to Denmark again, this time as the Second Secretary at the Russian embassy in Copenhagen. Valerie Pettit (right) may have seemed to her neighbours in the village of West Clandon, Surrey, as an ordinary churchgoing elderly woman, but with her death came revelations of her central role in organising the 1985 escape of Russian spyOleg Gordievsky (left). One morning its local head of station approached him while he was playing badminton at a suburban sports club. [2] A September 2018 article indicated that by that time he was living in an undisclosed location in the Home counties of England. Gordievsky in his student days at Moscow's elite Institute of International Affairs where he was first recruited by the KGB. But he was also, bravely, spying for the West. 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. Gordievskys mother was not thrilled when she was told that her younger son was following in his fathers footsteps. Gordievsky was sent to East Germany as a translator in August 1961, for a short tenure of 6 months. Born in 1929 near the Lord's Cricket ground she was the eldest daughter of Charles Pettit, a solicitor who was badly wounded in the Second World War, and Valerie Douglas, a Scottish dancer. He stayed there in a student hostel, made contact with his brother (who was already working there as a spy), and ran some errands (which he later found out was a litmus test for him). [3], The son of an officer of the NKVD (the Soviet secret police and precursor to the KGB), Gordievsky was born in 1938. The blanket would stop him being seen by infrared cameras as the car passed across the border into Finland. 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. They love telling their own stories. They still have a powerful resonance today, he says. [19], Gordievsky's exfiltration greatly embarrassed both the KGB and the Soviet Union and resulted in disruptions by Viktor Babunov, the KGB's chief of counterintelligence, within the KGB including Sergei Ivanov's career with the KGB, who was KGB resident in Finland, as well as numerous members of the Leningrad KGB, which was responsible for surveillance of British subjects, and numerous persons close to Vladimir Putin, who was a member of the Leningrad KGB. This was the time when a mass exodus from East to West Berlin was taking place and the infamous Berlin wall was getting built. cookies We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Love in a Cold War: the romance of Oleg Gordievsky, MI6's greatest The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre (Penguin, 25). This signal would trigger a plan to smuggle Gordievsky into Finland in the boot of a diplomatic car. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR, outwitting their Russian adversaries. The allegiance of Hollis remains a debated historical issue; the MI5 official website has cited Gordievsky's revelation as a vindication of Hollis. Yelena Akopian was a 22-year-old German girl training to be a teacher, when Gordievsky met her in 1960s. Gordievsky was featured in the PBS documentary Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy. 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. Next Stop Execution: The Autobiography of Oleg Gordievsky - Goodreads Unlike his brother, Gordievsky was assigned a desk job in Moscow and was required to create documentation for other spies to mask their true identities. You can still enjoy your subscription until the end of your current billing period. MI6 boosted Gordievskys career by feeding him real, low-grade intelligence and by removing rival spies who threatened to expose him. 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". They were married before his first foreign posting in Denmark. Joseph Curtis For Mailonline Unable to do so, he took his elder brothers advice and learnt Swedish. KGB Chairman Vadim Bakatin said that Gordievsky's wife, Leila, and their two daughters had been barred from leaving the country by the secret police agency he took over after last week's failed coup. Gordievsky, who studied history, geography, economics, and international affairs, wanted to learn English as a language. 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,. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the Settings & Account section. The daughter of a Russian. He lost his marriage. [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. That creates an atmosphere in which its very hard to govern., How did the British secret services react when they found out Macintyre was talking to Gordievsky, putting together a detailed account of his spy work and escape? 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.. Leila and their two daughters joined Gordievsky in London with no idea he was working for the British. 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. How Britain's prize double agent proved Michael Foot - PressReader One of his great pleasures, he says, is feeding the foxes who visit his garden. 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. We have noticed that there is an issue with your subscription billing details. An MI6 officer would acknowledge the call for help by walking close by with a green Harrods bag while eating a British chocolate bar - a KitKat or Mars Bar. In 1985 the KGB circulated a top secret personality questionnaire. IMDb Best of 2022. [2] MI6 allowed him to make his own decision whether to immediately defect to the UK and live thenceforth in secrecy under their protection, or to go to Moscow with the understanding that he could be interrogated, tortured, or killed if the KGB suspected his betrayal. One opened a bag of cheese-and-onion crisps while another dropped her child's dirty nappy under the boot to disguise Gordievsky. Gordievsky fled the country by triggering an audacious escape plan dreamed up by MI6. 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? The Soviets thought it was real. 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. PressReader. Mikhail Lyubimov, his mentor, a Soviet spy. Oleg was called back to USSR and his family was later too. He was initially paralysed and still has no feeling in his fingers. The Spy and the Traitor: a Cold War story like no other Since settling here, he has worked as a security adviser and has often appeared on TV as an expert on Russian espionage. This was the most embarrassing failure in KGB history., Macintyre describes the former spy in his book as one of the loneliest men he has met. A lot of what spies do doesnt amount to a hill of beans. Archives 1985 & 1986: Gordievsky defection chilled Anglo-Soviet ties [2] He steadily advanced in rank there with the help of secret aid and manipulation by MI6, which handed him abundant non-damaging information and contacts; MI6 also steadily banished his direct superiors back to Moscow on trumped-up charges so that Gordievsky took their place. They were reunited six years later but the marriage didnt survive. Im told Vladimir Putin has a personal axe to grind when it comes to Oleg. 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. Godievsky was summoned back to Moscow (pictured) in 1985 under the guise of being made the head of the KGB in Britain. In 2008, he spent 34 hours unconscious in hospital after falling ill at his home. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. [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. In The Spy and the Traitor, an account of the Gordievsky case by the Times writer Ben Macintyre, she was disguised with the pseudonym 'Veronica Price'. 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. It was a hair-raising journey featuring a KGB pursuit, a smelly nappy and a bag of crisps. 06:01 EDT 17 Sep 2018. [2] A 1994 report by the Washington Post, however, stated that "After six weeks of questioning Ames the FBI and CIA remain baffled about whether Ames or someone else first warned the Soviets about Gordievsky". 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.