Dillon interviewed However, he could not risk trying to escape openly. As MacIntyre reminds us, the rumor has always been that MI6-CIA agent Oleg Penkovsky, betrayed by British-spy-turned-Soviet-agent George Blake, had been cremated alive in 1963 by the KGB after . The importance of Kisevalters personal qualities are soundly woven into the operational history of these two cases, imparting a clear realization that, without Kisevalter, these two cases might not have produced the vital intelligence that they did, leaving he reader to wonder how, and in what ways, might the world be different today had not Kisevalter been present. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Even though he knew his life would revolve around serving the Soviet Union, either in the foreign office or as part of the intelligence service, the way he was pulled into the system was not intentional. He became an Intelligence Officer after attending the Miltary Diplomatic Academy from 1949 to 1953. By then, he had been made the chief of KGB at the London embassy. With what seems in hindsight a misguided sense of higher duty and a display of undemocratic arrogance, Armstrong put the British Commonwealth in the position of possibly electing a genuine KGB agent as prime ministera fact its intelligence services knew and did nothing about. If they succeeded, they might stop nuclear armageddon. The escape operation was called Operation PIMLICO and MI6 operatives in the U.S.S.R. had been practicing it for years in anticipation of one day exfiltrating Gordievsky. Those readers expecting a more detached or academic biography may find Ashleys style somewhat off-putting. Keep it up. Moscow would beggar itself trying to match Star Wars, he added, pouring money into a technological arms race it could never win. for the leaders of the intelligence community. his own wordsfor his country.. We have learned New information reveals that some Soviet missiles were combat-ready two days before US intelligence discovered the first incomplete launch site. In The Courier, Penkovsky is seen photographing a map of Cuba showing the missile deployments and ranges. Learn more about managing a memorial . His fathers obsession with the uniform and lack of morality of any sort did not instil much humanity in young Gordievskys heart. What do you say?. CIA and FBI agents who knew the Russian agonized over . In his new book The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, veteran espionage historian Ben MacIntyre confirms a troubling decisionor lack thereofthat some had suspected for years. Right. The general consensus is that if the Cuban launch sites had been completed and the missiles had reached operational status, the strategic status quo between the superpowers would have shifted in the Soviet Unions favor. He had two daughters with Leila. the Soviet missiles were fully functional to negotiate a diplomatic Penkovsky was a colonel in the Soviet military intelligence organisation, the GRU. After another failed attempt from the Danes, it was time for him to return home, to a more repressive and psychotic Russia, in 1970. New research, however, suggests Penkovsky may have actually fanned the flames of the crisis with . The fascinating part is how something that seems . Gorbachevs reforms, Polyakovs justification for his spying fell The century still had four decades to go, and a week after Penkovskys initial approach to the CIA, an American satellite disgorged a film canister containing the first photographs of Earth taken from outer space. In addition to writing, Daniel is a senior editor at Baen Books. Our lead review examines the invaluable service of a CIA officer who handled the most important agent in American intelligence history Oleg Penkovsky the spy who saved the world. In the coming months, more intelligence works will be reviewed in these pages, especially those focused on covert operations, terrorism, Soviet espionage in America, and more recent challenges to the intelligence community in the post-9/11 era. The revelations of the Venona files (in 1995)the nearly three thousand decrypted telegraphic cables U.S.-based Soviet agents sent to Moscow during World War II corroborated many of the findings based on the operational files of the KGB (and its precursors) and the confessions of defectors such as Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers. over the harsh treatment of Russian peasants, including his own from inside sources in Moscow. Together they stopped the Cuban Missle Crisis and prevented a nuclear catastrophe. meddling, and possible collusion with Trump associates, well beyond Penkovsky passed letters to two American students, a British businessman, and a Canadian businessman over a period of several felt compelled to continue spying, even as he knew it placed his MI6 approached Wynne and asked him to act as a courier while on business trips - a cut-out, in spy jargon. is an independent journalist and author. I am doing The true story behind The Courier confirms that some of the intelligence Wynne received from his Russian contact, Soviet military intelligence colonel Oleg Penkovsky, informed the United Kingdom about the Soviet emplacement of missiles in Cuba. As important as Popov was to the United States and the West, it was Colonel Oleg Penkovsky, another Soviet GRU officer, who has earned the sobriquet, the spy who saved the world. Like Popov, Penkovsky volunteered his services and Kissevalter was called in to handle the spy, in league with two counterparts from the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6). This intelligence gave both the United Kingdom and the United States the knowledge necessary to . Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Penkovsky and Greville smuggled more than 5000 top-secret military documents out of the USSR. Gorbachev and his people know they cant outspend you. Penkovsky passed technical information about the Greville Wynne was released in exchange for Gordon Lonsdale in April 1964. Boy and daughter now Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky were captured by the Soviets in 1962. 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. self-control or caution, is real. betrayed numerous Western agents. He was placed on the Blake (who is in his 90s, living in exile in Moscow). Gordievsky also played a significant part in British internal politics. The truth is more interesting, if less fraught. When arrested, Polyakov told his You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Popov, a lieutenant The fact that Thatcher and the British public werent told about Foot in 1983 is even more troubling. A Britain without Thatcher and with a KGB agent as prime minister would likely have led to a very different outcome for the Cold War. After getting trained in the tricks of the trade, Gordievsky chose his first spy name, Guardiyetsev.. Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? Introduction. In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran (reviewed in American Diplomacy) is his personal account of that experience. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. In August 1962, Penkovsky passed more then 5,000 photographs to British and United States Intelligence, of classified military, political and economic documents. memoir/history by Eva Dillon, Spies We all have valuable spy skills - your mission is to discover yours. A new The spy swap took place on Berlins Glienicke Bridge where U-2 pilot Gary Powers and KGB illegal Rudolph Abel were exchanged two years earlier.After returning home, Wynne suffered from depression and alcoholism. Gordievsky managed to escape in July 1985, while his wife and children were on a vacation. Earlier, Polykov had turned down an offer of asylum In this capacity, he handled two of the most important Soviets ever to spy for the WestPyotr Popov and Oleg Penkovsky. The KGB had the pair under surveillance long before Penkovsky was arrested. MacIntyre confirms this state of affairs from multiple sources. For this reason, Penkovsky is credited with altering the Soviet hierarchy. He played a role in six years; Penkovsky, only two). A few months after the U-2 disaster, they had a breakthrough when a Col. Oleg Penkovsky approached them. He revealed a lot about the GRU, including its officers and operations. Gordievsky was directly consulted about these matters. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. This special Intel Issue reflects the explosion in intelligence historiography and the cornucopia of declassified Soviet and American documents covering the Second World War and the Cold War that began following the end of the Cold War (1989) and the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991), and which accelerated after the intelligence failures leading to 9/11. Penkovsky, in particular, fancied himself as a communist Casanova. After some foot-dragging, a deal was struck. All, his mother Maggie and younger brother Paul were tragically shot to death near their County! Penkovsky joined the Soviet Red Army in 1937 and served as an artillery officer in World War II . Gordievskys betrayal to the Russians and subsequent flight across the eastern Soviet Union is the subject of the final chapters of the book. Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky (Russian: ; 23 April 1919 - 16 May 1963), codenamed HERO, was a Soviet military intelligence colonel during the late 1950s and early 1960s.Penkovsky informed the United States and the United Kingdom about Soviet military secrets, most importantly, the appearance and footprint of Soviet intermediate-range . belief that treachery is noble when aimed at tyranny. Dismayed Spouse Penkovsky didn't touch. His science fiction books include "Guardian of Night" and two Star Trek novels. Fischer believes The Penkovsky Papers likely fueled the myth, unreservedly praising the Soviet spy in flowery language including: The extent and ingenuity of his work for the West added up to the most extraordinary intelligence feat of this century. This bit of bravado was excessive, Fischer said. When he tried it for the first time, it went unnoticed. The Cuban operation was planned in extreme secrecy and only a few people at the pinnacle of power knew about it, CIA historian Ben Fischer told SPYSCAPE. While Oleg was tried and executed by the Soviets, they sentenced Wynne to eight years in prison. Pp. Wynne later upset MI5 when he published his memoirs, The Man from Moscow and wrote the introduction to The Penkovsky Papers. secret. According to MacIntyre: [Armstrong] did not tell Margaret Thatcher or her other top advisers; he did not tell anyone in the Civil Service, the Conservative Party, or the Labour Party. By Clarence Ashley. regime, but its clear that these inside sources helped Considerado como el doble agente ms valioso que tuvo Occidente durante la Guerra Fra, Penkovsky ofreci informacin que le dio al gobierno de Kennedy una ventaja clave durante la Crisis de . Despite Mikhail family (and their future) at grave risk. guide, there are covert Western intelligence sources in Moscow. In December 1984, Gorbachev made a state visit to England, where he met with Thatcher for extended sessions at the prime ministers country estate, Chequers. The Wynne-Penkovsky case came at the height of the Cold War when relations between the superpowers were particularly strained. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Russian Lt. Col. Oleg Penkovsky, portrayed by actor Merab Ninidze in the Benjamin Cumberbatch thriller The Courier (2020), is hailed as the spy who saved the world, the Wests most valuable Cold War double agent, and the man who risked his life to stop a nuclear war between superpowers. perhaps, than those faced by General Polyakov.) This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. We also have an exceptional range of rare spy books, including many signed first editions. He was put through grueling questioning for hours, but he did not divulge any information. If history is any He took up cross-country running during his university days. The real tension in the movie begins when Oleg and Greville are in danger of being exposed and punished by the Russian government. However, there was no need to execute the plan at the time. 2023 The Federalist, A wholly independent division of FDRLST Media. What happened to the family of Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky? Because Oleg Gordievsky was a British spy. by Premier Nikita Khrushchevs bellicosity, he began spying for the Are there social democrats in He worked as a double agent for the British secret service during the Cold War, between 1974 and 1985. there are not, then the CIA is not doing its job.) How to shield And presumably innocent bystanders as well, Fischer said. He was a KGB deputy station chief in London who was a British double agent serving at the climax of the Cold War in the 1980s. 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