The methods are just different. He lost his family. During your trial you will have complete digital access to FT.com with everything in both of our Standard Digital and Premium Digital packages. [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. One of his great pleasures, he says, is feeding the foxes who visit his garden. Gordievsky graciously accepted the award from the Queen, wearing top hat and tails. 'Russian spy poisoned me' says former double agent Gordievsky It reveals the dramatic role played by MI6 in recruiting and cultivating a serving KGB insider and keeping him alive against the odds. [9] He tried to send a covert sympathetic message to the Politiets Efterretningstjeneste (Danish Security Intelligence Service), called PET, but his three-year stint ended and he returned to Moscow before making any direct contact. It was to be another six years before Gordievsky was reunited with his family. 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. All realised Gordievsky was unique. Gordievsky remains a passionate Anglophile, subscribing to The Spectator and penning articles for the Literary Review. They didnt interfere, but they didnt stop me. 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. 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. The comments below have not been moderated, By [5] The CIA told of MI6's high-level informant but not his name or position gave him the codename TICKLE. They dont know where the other is., In 1997 the Queen made Gordievsky a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, the honour awarded to James Bond in Ian Flemings books. Gordievsky got disenchanted with the KGB and by Russia after their invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Documents released by National Archives show British officials saw efforts to free Oleg Gordievsky's family as a lost cause Owen Bowcott and Richard Norton-Taylor Mon 29 Dec 2014 19.01 EST Last . Try full digital access and see why over 1 million readers subscribe to the FT, Purchase a Trial subscription for $1 for 4 weeks, You will be billed $69 per month after the trial ends, The Big Dig: Germany reopens its mines in quest for mineral self-sufficiency, Singapore deepens US defence ties despite Chinese financial inflows, Chinas local governments stuck with bill for neighbourhood surveillance, Moderna co-founder calls on US politicians and judges to stop questioning science, Long-lived rivals: actuaries say Biden and Trump are not too old for office, Charlie Munger: US banks are full of bad commercial property loans, JPMorgan to acquire First Republics deposits as US regulators step in, Disney uses Ron DeSantiss own words against him in free speech lawsuit, Deutsche Bank plans to beef up investment bank advisory team, JPMorgan, Citizens and PNC submit bids for First Republic, Totals chief tells investors European listing to blame for oil groups trading discount, Investors bet on shrinking pool of tech stocks as rally narrows, Live news: Meta sells $8.5bn in bonds as investment grade issuers tap debt market, S&P criticised by pension funds over dual-class shares decision, China, America and why not all growth is equal, China could play a crucial role in ending the war in Ukraine, Labour has leverage to carry out private equity tax reform, The costs of entrenched high inflation cannot be ignored, Inside the elite British college for the worlds best nannies, Twill of the people: the workwear staple that never gets old. [2] After spending a year in Berlin, he returned to Moscow. [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. He brought his kids as cover. The marriage was in deep trouble anyway its frailty even more exposed when Gordievsky fell in love with Leila Aliyeva, a Russian-born typist for the World Health Organisation in Copenhagen. Macintyre writes that Foot wasnt a Soviet spy. Edit. He continued to deny the accusations until his death at the age of 96 eight years ago. university Gordievsky, MI6 discovered, was a star asset. The Institute of International Relations housed a small KGB station, which began looking for new recruits. Gordievsky has written a number of books on the subject of the KGB and is a frequently quoted media pundit on the subject. There is, he insists, nothing in Russia that he misses. 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. But they all returned to Moscow after he was recalled by the KGB, with his family told Gordievsky had suffered a heart problem. It wasnt as easy as turning up outside his front door., Security is still tight, particularly after the poisoning of the double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last year. 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. New KGB Chief Says Gordievsky Family May Leave | AP News We are no longer accepting comments on this article. He now receives a 20,000-a-year pension from MI6. These were Moscows secret instructions. He resolved to fight the communist system from the inside. [2] After his arrival, he was taken to a KGB safe house outside Moscow, drugged, and interrogated. "[32], In 2018 Ben Macintyre published a biography of Gordievsky, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War. 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. They injected him with a truth drug but Gordievsky gave nothing away, so he was released. Gordievsky described to Leila the Englishmen he'd met in Copenhagen witty, sophisticated people, full of laughter and generosity. Oleg Gordievsky - Wikipedia [29] He claimed that he was poisoned with thallium by "rogue elements in Moscow". Gordievsky, who studied history, geography, economics, and international affairs, wanted to learn English as a language. Oleg Gordievsky (Former Colonel of the KGB and Bureau Chief in London) Oleg Gordievsky is a Russian-born former British secret agent. 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 The next stage of the plan would see. One opened a bag of cheese-and-onion crisps while another dropped her child's dirty nappy under the boot to disguise Gordievsky. 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? An operation named RYAN was put in place to find out the details of the attack. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR, outwitting their Russian adversaries. It was not until 1965, that he received his first assignment as a handler for spies in Denmark, under the cover of a consular official dealing with visas. Hes estranged from his children. Interviewer not heard. He was telling Thatcher what to say to Gorbachev and he was telling Gorbachev what to say to Thatcher. In 2008, he spent 34 hours unconscious in hospital after falling ill at his home. He was able to crack open the inner secrets of the Kremlin. 2: Handel : One of the composers. In the meantime, he had learned English and closely studied the KGBs British files. and defected to Britain. In 1997 the Queen made Gordievsky a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, Then came Able Archer 83, a Nato war-game training exercise in November 1983, leading up to a simulated nuclear attack. He felt sure that if she discovered the truth, as a loyal KGB officer herself, she would shop him. Oleg is very proud of that. You could say it was the family business. Phone orders min. The Spy who really DID come in from the cold - PressReader If youd like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. [4], Gordievsky joined the KGB in 1963, and was posted to the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen in 1966. 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. 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. A Czechoslovak spy, Standa Kaplan, had defected to Canada. Gordievsky was posted in London as the Deputy Chief of the KGB at the embassy. Menu. [7] He was questioned for about five hours. Thirty years on, Gordievskys successful escape still seems incredible. Get local insights from Lisbon to Moscow with an unrivalled network of journalists across Europe, What he didn't tell her was about the secret life that awaited him. London decided not to make contact with Gordievsky once he was home too risky but to have a procedure in place if he raised the alarm. A gripping tale of cold-war espionage | The Economist The Soviets thought it was real. 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. He spoke extensively to Gordievsky, who is now 79 and living in the home counties a remarkable figure, proud, shrewd and irascible. I'm a behavioural scientist and here are the tell-tale signs that give away a killer, Bronx cop is under investigation after 'she tried to stop narcotics detectives from busting her major drug dealer boyfriend', America's deadliest jobs: More than 340 workers are killed every day - and logging, hunting and roofing are the riskiest trades, At least 14 people are injured in roof collapse at home near Ohio State University, Prince Harry's 24-hour flying visit for Coronation: Duke 'plans to be on plane back to the US just two hours after the historic ceremony finishes at 1pm so he can get back for son Archie's fourth birthday', Gunman sends tourists running for cover after argument between two men in Hell's Kitchen boils over into bullets, New AI 'can accurately spot cancer': Algorithm is better at identifying cancerous nodules than existing methods, study claims, Inside America's oldest operating McDonald's: This restaurant serves up nostalgia with its orginal 1953 decor intact - and it's the only place where you can order this secret menu item, Miley Cyrus' mom Tish is engaged to Prison Break star Dominic Purcell eight months after ex Billy Ray popped the question to singer Firerose. This page was last edited on 21 April 2023, at 03:32. Gordievsky managed to escape in July 1985, while his wife and children were on a vacation. and other data for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, organisation He knows all too well the KGBs view of treachery, and that his enemies play a long game. [2] The escape plan was code-named "Operation Pimlico", and was devised by an MI6 officer named Valerie Pettit.[14][15]. The plan was simple, and almost comic. [2] He was suddenly summoned back to Moscow via a telegram on 16 May 1985. Gordievskys double life started after a junior MI6 officer saw his name while leafing through a personnel file. People in Downing Street and the Oval Office didnt believe it at first, but Oleg managed to convince them it was true and say that unless they calmed down the fighting talk, the West would effectively press the button on its own destruction., Moves were made to calm down the Soviets, who never fired. "I realised they wanted to hush up the crime," he remarked. He told his wife Yelena nothing of what he was up to. 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. 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". He claimed he was the victim of a Kremlin-inspired assassination plot. Work with us; Blog Hes paid an enormous cost. 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. Whenever the churchgoer was asked what she did during her career she answered that she was a Foreign Office secretary and then moved the conversation on. Gordievsky was asked to sit for an interview in German. Lying down in the boot of a Ford Sierra saloon, he was smuggled across the border into Finland. For tickets, go to www.cvhf.org.uk or call 01722 781133. At an early age he learned German. His accusations over the years have proved controversial and his claims have been interpreted very differently by the right and left in Britain. Seven years earlier, as deputy to the head of MI6's Soviet Operations section, a 48-year-old Pettit devised a cunning way for British intelligence officers to get Gordievsky - recruited by MI6 in Copenhagen in 1973 - out of Moscow if he was ever under suspicion. Love in a Cold War: the romance of Oleg Gordievsky, MI6's greatest There were close shaves, including an approach to the Soviet embassy by Michael Bettaney, a renegade MI5 loner. Moment commuter blasts eco-zealots, Royal superfans camping on The Mall ahead of King's Coronation, Women's rights activists and pro-trans campaigners separated, Cambridge students party in the park during annual celebrations, Russian freight train derails and bursts into flames after explosion, Historic chairs to be reused by the King for the coronation service, Hundreds of Household Division members rehearse for coronation, Braverman: People crossing Channel are 'at odds with British values', 'You motherf***ers don't understand': Bam Margera details 'turmoil', Ukraine drone strike hits major fuel depot in port Sevastopol. By this point Gordievsky was a junior spy abroad, working for the KGBs first directorate, and living in Copenhagen. Macintyre touches only briefly on the unprecedented download of information given by Gordievsky to the west. 'I was betrayed,' he told her. 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. Others were gifted working-class linguists recruited from Oxbridge. After that, he was released and told that he would never work abroad again. He didnt do it for money; he did it purely for ideological reasons., All this is laid out in The Spy And The Traitor, which is about to be released in paperback. He would re-establish contact with MI6 as soon as it was safe to do so. Moment commuter blasts eco-zealots, Royal superfans camping on The Mall ahead of King's Coronation, Women's rights activists and pro-trans campaigners separated, Ukraine drone strike hits major fuel depot in port Sevastopol, Russian freight train derails and bursts into flames after explosion, Historic chairs to be reused by the King for the coronation service, Hundreds of Household Division members rehearse for coronation, Braverman: People crossing Channel are 'at odds with British values', 'You motherf***ers don't understand': Bam Margera details 'turmoil', Cambridge students party in the park during annual celebrations, Revealed: woman who sprang Gordievsky from KGB clutches | News | The Times. Gordievsky (pictured in 1976) continues to defy Moscow from a safehouse in Britain. He was finally able to divorce Yelena in 1979 and quickly married Leila, with whom he had had two daughters, Maria and Anna. Gordievsky. Mikhail Lyubimov, his mentor, a Soviet spy. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the - eNotes Gordievsky in his student days at Moscow's elite Institute of International Affairs where he was first recruited by the KGB. Oleg Gordievsky Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 "There has been accusation and counter-accusation. or 894646. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many users needs. 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. The corner was monitored by agents every week for seven years, even when Gordievsky was called over to work from the Soviet embassy in Britain in 1982. He had a pretty South American wife that constantly asked for more money and he had to get it somehow to please her. Defector's family arrive in UK British Universities Film & Video Council [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. And when former spies think of spilling their secrets and telling their amazing stories at last, Ben Macintyre is clearly the man they trust. Margaret Thatcher secret papers: PM personally wrote to KGB defector [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. Godievsky was summoned back to Moscow (pictured) in 1985 under the guise of being made the head of the KGB in Britain. Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky was born on October 10, 1938, in Moscow, in the erstwhile USSR, to Anton Gordievsky, an NKVD official, and Olga Nikolayevna Gornova, a statistician. I went through a middleman to see him. The long absence took its toll, however, and he and his wife Leila separated not long afterwards. 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. In 1972 Gordievsky went back to Denmark for a second tour. Leila Gordievsky. The books most contentious section concerns Michael Foot whom, Macintyre writes, the KGB cultivated for two decades. The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre review - The Guardian Both of them had high aspirations in life. He was trained thoroughly in every aspect of intelligence service, including, intelligence, counter-intelligence, surveillance, and combat. However, the marriage was effectively dead by then and eventually it foundered completely. The next stage of the plan would seeGordievsky meet MI6 officers at a layby in the woods south of the border with Finland. He was initially paralysed and still has no feeling in his fingers. It went some way towards exorcising the Cambridge spies, who a generation earlier had travelled in the opposite direction. Far from disappearing, because we do everything online now, the secret world is more important than ever. Luke Hardings Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House is published by Guardian Faber. For details about Ben Macintyres book tour, visit, Ben Macintyre will be speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival on Saturday 29th June. [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. Unable to do so, he took his elder brothers advice and learnt Swedish. [2] A September 2018 article indicated that by that time he was living in an undisclosed location in the Home counties of England. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, 'How can I fix this?' Of course they are still at it. [2] During this Moscow period, it was too risky for him to send any information to MI6. But earlier in 1985 he was called back to Moscow after officials suspected he was a traitor, prompting him to activate the Pimlico escape plan. [5] MI6 gave him the codename SUNBEAM. 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] He continued to provide secret documents and information to MI6. Whatever little sense of belonging he had toward his country or his fathers beloved KGB, quickly changed into rage and anguish. When a 90-year-old retired Foreign Office secretary died recently the secrets of her Cold War past could finally be revealed. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR, outwitting their Russian adversaries. His father, his brother, and his first wife were all members of the infamous organization. [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". [31] Gordievsky accused MI6 of trying to suppress the incident from being known. Gordievsky was called back to Moscow in 1985. He said he was poisoned with thallium, a highly toxic metal used in insecticides which was favoured by the KGB in assassinations during the Cold War. [18] She and their children were on holiday in the Azerbaijan SSR at the time of his escape. 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. I just dont know what to do. He expected an approach from western intelligence. 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. 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.