He raised the alarm with his supermarket bag and gave his minders the slip. Its an old Stalinist technique called maskirovka, little masquerade, which means confusing everybody so that nobody knows what is real and what isnt. However, he could not risk trying to escape openly. [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. Gordievsky was stuck at a desk job in Moscow, and she wanted to escape the mundane life she was living in a small house with her parents and five siblings. 00:00:26. An operation named RYAN was put in place to find out the details of the attack. Menu. Interview with Oleg Gordievsky and Leila Gordievsky, a defected Russian agent and his wife. expert analysis, our dedicated Brussels Briefing newsletter. Oleg Gordievsky was raised in a KGB family. The rivalry between the MI6 and the CIA about gathering intelligence put their most prized agent at risk after 1982. For three years Pettit arranged weekly meetings withGordievsky at a safehouse in Bayswater, London, where he spilledthe deepest secrets of the Russian intelligence during the darkest period of the Cold War while enjoying beer and smoked salmon. After getting trained in the tricks of the trade, Gordievsky chose his first spy name, Guardiyetsev.. Oleg Gordievsky developed a love for Western classical music during his early days in the KBG in East Germany. When he tried it for the first time, it went unnoticed. Betrayal eventually came from a venal CIA officer, Aldrich Ames, who tipped off Moscow Ames is the traitor of the books title. It comes as the book The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre - revealed the daring Operation Pimlico plan was almost scuppered when British officials struggled to get then prime minister Margaret Thatchers approval while she was visiting The Queen at Balmoral because the phone line was engaged for 20 minutes while the monarch tried to borrow her mothers video recorder to watch Dads Army. Gordievsky made contact with the Danish security services. I fell in love at first sight, [and] our love flared. Vladimir : . PDF Review of 'The Spy and The Traitor' - CIA Whatever little sense of belonging he had toward his country or his fathers beloved KGB, quickly changed into rage and anguish. Moore also wrote that, although the claims are difficult to corroborate without MI6 and KGB files, Gordievsky's past record in revealing KGB contacts in Britain had been shown to be reliable.[27]. Oleg Gordievsky Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements He lost his marriage. For an extraordinary period he was briefing British and Soviet spies and Margaret Thatcher, who referred to him as Mr Collins. [8], Following his exfiltration from the USSR to the UK in 1985, he became of even greater use to the West, in that the information he disclosed (and had previously disclosed) could be immediately acted upon and shared without endangering his life, identity, or position. But they all returned to Moscow after he was recalled by the KGB, with his family told Gordievsky had suffered a heart problem. But in 1985 Aldrich Ames, an irate CIA officer, called the KGB in Washington. On 13 June, Ames named The daughter of a Russian. Please. 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". Play it now! He was initially paralysed and still has no feeling in his fingers. He worked as a double agent for the British secret service during the Cold War, between 1974 and 1985. He lives a very solitary life., But he adds: I dont want to make him sound like a tragic figure, because Ive never heard him express a single word of regret. The long absence took its toll, however, and he and his wife Leila separated not long afterwards. All rights reserved. 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. 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. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR, outwitting their Russian adversaries. Gordievsky remains a passionate Anglophile, subscribing to The Spectator and penning articles for the Literary Review. Hes paid an enormous cost. Gordievsky graciously accepted the award from the Queen, wearing top hat and tails. We have noticed that there is an issue with your subscription billing details. Do not sell or share my personal information. For 11 years, he spied for MI6. A skilled intelligence officer, he had been promoted a few months before to rezident, or chief, of the KGB station in the. Paul Bracchi for the Daily Mail, The Mars Bar defector: How MI6's greatest ever KGB mole was smuggled out of Moscow thanks to a chocolate bar, a Safeway bag and a very secret dash to Balmoral, Britain may have MISSED the real 'novichok assassins' by concentrating on pair caught on CCTV who may only have been 'watchers' spying on Skripal family home, Saboteurs wreck Russian train cut power cables 37mi from Ukraine, Moment large saltwater crocodile snatches pet dog off beach in QLD, 'We're not your enemies!' In 1985 the KGB circulated a top secret personality questionnaire. He brought his kids as cover. Extraordinary., 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 Wall going up while he was stationed there. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Defector's family arrive in UK British Universities Film & Video Council After about a year, they realised that it must be Gordievsky. Leila Gordievsky. Leila and their two daughters joined Gordievsky in London with no idea he was working for the British. Hes always maintained that he made the right decision and I dont think I would challenge that, morally, in terms of what was happening in the world then., Leila Gordievsky did eventually come to Britain, after the end of the Soviet Union, but the marriage quickly failed. To order a copy for 21.50 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. 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. He was fascinated by subjects such as language and history, since a young age. 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. [33], In March 2020, Gordievsky's story was recounted in an episode of Spy Wars With Damian Lewis, on the Smithsonian Channel in the US, streaming on various cable services. [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. Then as a KGB trainee he spent six months in East Berlin. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the Settings & Account section. According to The Times, the couple met in secret trysts at various Copenhagen hotels every few weeks, but he could not divulge his life as a double agent to her and said half of my existence and my thoughts had to remain secret. The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre (Penguin, 25). They would have been aged three and six. Paintings hanging on the walls of his home in Surrey reflect his love of avant-garde art. 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. Gordievsky was featured in the PBS documentary Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy. His two books on Soviet intelligence operations with historian Christopher Andrew are invaluable. Thirty Years Later, We Still Don't Truly Know Who Betrayed These Spies Gordievsky was forced to leave his second wife Leila and their two children behind in the USSR. In the summer of 1982 Gordievsky moved to London and began regular meetings at a Bayswater safe house with his MI6 handlers. His wife, Leila (an Azeri) was the daughter of a KGB officer and was unaware of her husband's defection. [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. Description. For a full comparison of Standard and Premium Digital, click here. 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? At an early age he learned German. Phone orders min. One opened a bag of cheese-and-onion crisps while another dropped her child's dirty nappy under the boot to disguise Gordievsky. The comments below have not been moderated. The Spy And The Traitor Characters Listed With Descriptions - BookCompanion If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for $69 per month. First he shook off his KGB tails, then made for the border with Finland, hiding in remote undergrowth until he was picked up by a rescue car driven by two British agents who, astonishingly, had brought along their baby. Standard Digital includes access to a wealth of global news, analysis and expert opinion. 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. "Spy Wars" The Man Who Saved the World (TV Episode 2019) - IMDb For tickets, go to www.cvhf.org.uk or call 01722 781133. The MI6 had to share Gordievskys whereabouts with the Americans. He was made to learn the principles of communism at school. Oleg resented the strict discipline, the endless paperwork, the malevolent atmosphere. [5] MI6 gave him the codename SUNBEAM. No one like Bond ever existed., After years building up contacts through his work as a journalist, Macintyre had help in approaching Gordievsky. 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. In later life, Gordievsky. It reveals the dramatic role played by MI6 in recruiting and cultivating a serving KGB insider and keeping him alive against the odds. There were huge protests outside the Russian embassy in Denmark, which made him feel ashamed. [7], Although MI6 had passed on information provided by Gordievsky to the American CIA, the British would not reveal their source, so the CIA had conducted a covert operation to discover who the source was. It went some way towards exorcising the Cambridge spies, who a generation earlier had travelled in the opposite direction. He went on to be lauded as Britains most valuable Cold War spy and eventually became the head of the KGBs London station while actually undermining their efforts. By then, he had been made the chief of KGB at the London embassy. 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. and defected to Britain. or In June 1985, he was joined in Moscow by his wife and two children, who had been living with him in London. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Oleg lost everything. Upon his arrival in Moscow, he was sure that he was under surveillance and his house was bugged. Following the norm for teenagers at the time, Gordievsky joined the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League.. He felt sure that if she discovered the truth, as a loyal KGB officer herself, she would shop him. Oleg Gordievsky, pictured with wife Leila years after fleeing to the UK in 1985, is regarded as Britain's 'most valuable' spy during the Cold War, but only escaped Moscow thanks to the. By this point Gordievsky was a junior spy abroad, working for the KGBs first directorate, and living in Copenhagen. In 2008, he spent 34 hours unconscious in hospital after falling ill at his home. He was finally able to divorce Yelena in 1979 and quickly married Leila, with whom he had had two daughters, Maria and Anna. The plan was called PIMLICO. In a way, Oleg lost everything. But she Did Elton Johns mother poison him against the father he The Spy And The Traitor is published in paperback, with a new afterword, on May 30 (Penguin), 8.99. He was presented with the prestigious Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007. According to The Times, Mrs Gee produced the Golden Wonder cheese and onion crisps as the border guards inspected the vehicles and even fed one of the sniffer dogs with them. 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. 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. 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. The daughter of a Russian mother and a father from Azerbaijan, she was tall and striking, with a shock of dark hair and deep brown eyes behind long eyelashes. [2] A September 2018 article indicated that by that time he was living in an undisclosed location in the Home counties of England. 05:57 EDT 17 Sep 2018 Gordievsky would go on to meet his British handlers once a month; he didnt want money and said he was spying out of ideological conviction. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. [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. Gordievskys brother, Vasili, who was training to be an illegal spy, told the officials that his brother would be interested in the service. And she is still looked after by MI6. They were reunited six years later but the marriage didn't survive. He came to believe that he was serving a corrupt, barbarian regime. A refresher memo was concealed in an OUP edition of Shakespeares sonnets. According to one officer present Pettit was visibly moved, 'her expression a mixture of recognition and love', despite usually disapproving of emotional outbursts. Edit. Theyre doing it on Facebook, theyre doing it on Twitter, but the technique is the same., What are they after? In 1981, the chairman of the KGB mistook a NATO exercise as the first nuclear strike by America and its allies. 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. Top KGB defector begged Margaret Thatcher to secure release - Telegraph university These mutual signals indicated that the escape plan was to be activated immediately. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. 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. So Im walking with Macintyre, a short, bespectacled 55-year-old with a tweed jacket and a fierce intelligence, through Corams Fields near Holborn. Work in recent years included being a consultant editor for the journal of National Security, co-hosting a TV show titled Wanted in the Nineties and writing content for Literary Review. [2], The value of MI6's recruitment of such a highly placed and valuable intelligence asset increased dramatically when, in 1982, the KGB posted Gordievsky to London, and he rose through the ranks there, gaining the ability to access higher and higher levels of Soviet secrets, which he passed easily to MI6 via a London safe house. She was sociable, interesting, original, witty and eager to be liked. The double agent was MI5's greatest asset between 1982 and 1985, when he passed. 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 . Ever since his defection, Gordievsky has lived comfortably in the Surrey suburbs, for most of that time with his long-term British-born companion Maureen. The spy mentioned the possibility of fleeing to London to his wife without telling her of his true identity and was quickly dismissed, which made him decide not to include her and his daughters, then aged five and three, in the Pimlico plan. ' our meeting lasted four hours and after that i met her several times again,' he said. 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. Gordievsky was called back to Moscow in 1985. (modern). After days of interrogation, Mr. Gordievsky knew the only answer was escape, and on July 19, 1985, he began a long and dangerous jog to freedom, in the process leaving behind one life and. 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'. When a 90-year-old retired Foreign Office secretary died recently the secrets of her Cold War past could finally be revealed. [9][2] By the time he arrived again in Copenhagen in October 1972 for a second three-year stint, both the PET as well as MI6 which had been tipped off by one of Gordievsky's old university friends felt he was a persuadable agent. 06:01 EDT 17 Sep 2018. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the Settings & Account section. He lost his marriage. Gordievsky was almost discovered at a checkpoint after sniffer dogs were used to inspect the vehicles, only for the diplomats wives to put off the hounds with the distinctive smells of a bag of cheese and onion crisps and a babys soiled nappy. [2] 'She opened the boot to let me out,' wrote Gordievsky, now 81 and still living in a safehouse in Britain. He knows all too well the KGBs view of treachery, and that his enemies play a long game. 'Russian spy poisoned me' says former double agent Gordievsky A gripping tale of cold-war espionage | The Economist 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. Though there was no substantial threat, the MI6 engineered an escape plan, codenamed PIMLICO, for their prized asset. Former spy chief likens Putin to Mussolini - Taipei Times Victoria Hislop doesnt care if men read her novels. He resolved to fight the communist system from the inside. He would re-establish contact with MI6 as soon as it was safe to do so. At 7.30pm on Tuesdays British officers would watch a bread shop next to Kutuzovsky Prospekt, a diplomatic complex. Cassettes of these conversations were sent back to London in a diplomatic bag. Two cars driven by MI6 officers and their wives got him across the border. Oleg was called back to USSR and his family was later too. He read German and learnt about foreign lands during his school days. Also Known As: Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, Notable Alumni: Moscow State Institute Of International Relations, education: Moscow State Institute Of International Relations, See the events in life of Oleg Gordievsky in Chronological Order, (Former Colonel of the KGB and Bureau Chief in London), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9C.%D0%A2%D1%8D%D1%82%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D1%8F%D0%B5%D1%82_%D0%9E.%D0%93%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE.jpg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBNz0c-D9F8&app=desktop, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gordievsky.png, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reagan%E2%80%99s_meeting_with_Oleg_Gordievsky_in_the_Oval_Office_(04).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reagan%E2%80%99s_meeting_with_Oleg_Gordievsky_in_the_Oval_Office_(15).jpg. However, he does view him as stunningly naive. He has been a consultant editor for the journal of National Security and co-hosted the Channel 4 show Wanted in the Nineties, in which contestants had to complete a list of challenges without being detected by a ring of spymasters. There has been only one sinister episode during this gilded life in the stockbroker belt. Thirty years on, Gordievskys successful escape still seems incredible. He was summoned back to Moscow the next day, under the guise of being made the head of the KGB in Britain. Ben Macintyres wonderful The Spy and the Traitor complements and enhances Gordievskys first-person account. In 1990, he was consultant editor of the journal Intelligence and National Security, and he worked on television in the UK in the 1990s, including the game show Wanted. 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. [2], Unbeknownst to him, Gordievsky had been betrayed in early May (or early June 1985 at the latest) by CIA officer Aldrich Ames. [5], In late April 1985 he was promoted to KGB station chief (resident-designate or rezident) in London at the Soviet embassy. It set out the characteristics it was looking for in a potential agent: narcissism, vanity, greed and marital infidelity. They underestimated just how furious the KGB was. [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. [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. 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 dog duly slunk off, says Macintyre. However, the marriage was effectively dead by then and eventually it foundered completely. The University of Buckingham bestowed upon him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters in 2005. In the meantime, he had learned English and closely studied the KGBs British files. There were close shaves, including an approach to the Soviet embassy by Michael Bettaney, a renegade MI5 loner. Although MI6 allowed him the option to instead defect and stay in London under their protection, on 19 May 1985 he left for Moscow. The Institute of International Relations housed a small KGB station, which began looking for new recruits. Like Oleg, Leila came from KGB stock: her father, Ali, had risen to the rank of major in the KGB, before retiring to Moscow. 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,. As soon as he arrived he realised he had been rumbled. 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. This page was last edited on 21 April 2023, at 03:32. 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. Telemann : One of the composers. Margaret Thatcher secret papers: PM personally wrote to KGB defector [23], Gordievsky was appointed Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for "services to the security of the United Kingdom" in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours (in the Diplomatic List). The Kremlin genuinely believed the West was going to launch a first nuclear strike.. personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to and Premium access for businesses and educational institutions. 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.. Aldrich Ames, a former CIA agent who became a mole for the KGB. Customise your myFT page to track Gordievsky, MI6 discovered, was a star asset. This averted a nuclear war between the two super powers. Valerie Pettit 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 escape of a Russian spy.
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