Lying down in the boot of a Ford Sierra saloon, he was smuggled across the border into Finland. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR, outwitting their Russian adversaries. IMDbPro. He was telling Thatcher what to say to Gorbachev and he was telling Gorbachev what to say to Thatcher. After getting trained in the tricks of the trade, Gordievsky chose his first spy name, Guardiyetsev.. He was finally able to divorce Yelena in 1979 and quickly married Leila, with whom he had had two daughters, Maria and Anna. The Skripal case gave this story an immediacy that I had not anticipated. Stalin: General secretary of the communist party. Macintyre added: [It was] a weapon that had never been deployed before in the Cold War, or any other.. He was summoned back to Moscow the next day, under the guise of being made the head of the KGB in Britain. Oleg Gordievsky developed a love for Western classical music during his early days in the KBG in East Germany. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the Settings & Account section. 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. [29] He claimed that he was poisoned with thallium by "rogue elements in Moscow". and [2], Soviet authorities subsequently sentenced Gordievsky to death in absentia for treason,[17] a sentence never rescinded by post-Soviet Russian authorities, but which cannot be legally carried out because of Russia's then-membership in the Council of Europe. [2] Two British diplomats and their wives were Gordievsky's courier; to dissuade sniffer dogs at the Finnish border one of the wives dropped her baby's dirty nappy on the ground, causing the dogs to flee. Although he joined at a young age, his heart was never really in it. For details about Ben Macintyres book tour, visit, Ben Macintyre will be speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival on Saturday 29th June. The family went with Gordievsky when he was posted to London in 1982 and they quickly settled, enjoying British culture and never realising what the double agent was actually up to as he divulged secrets to MI6 on a weekly basis. Vladimir : . ", "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. Gordievsky described Valerie as a 'perfectionist' who 'always showed me great kindness and a lot of patience'. 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. Menu. Following the norm for teenagers at the time, Gordievsky joined the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League.. 00:00:26. Luke Hardings Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House is published by Guardian Faber. In a way, Oleg lost everything. Gordievsky managed to escape in July 1985, while his wife and children were on a vacation. Gordievsky in his student days at Moscow's elite Institute of International Affairs where he was first recruited by the KGB. Gordievsky got disenchanted with the KGB and by Russia after their invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. His two books on Soviet intelligence operations with historian Christopher Andrew are invaluable. He brought his kids as cover. Though he left school with a silver medal and as head of the Komsomol, the secretive undertone in the Gordievsky family had already left an indelible mark on him. He had a pretty South American wife that constantly asked for more money and he had to get it somehow to please her. [2], He studied at a prestigious Moscow University Moscow State Institute of International Relations and later undertook NKVD training, where in addition to espionage skills he mastered German and also learned to speak Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian. "I realised they wanted to hush up the crime," he remarked. 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). A campaign to release Leila Gordievsky and daughters. But they all returned to Moscow after he was recalled by the KGB, with his family told Gordievsky had suffered a heart problem. An operation named RYAN was put in place to find out the details of the attack. But he has interviewed all of the former officers involved in the case, who tell their stories for the first time. Gordievsky was called back to Moscow in 1985. The remnants of the KGB are still really angry about Gordievsky. After completing his escape, he would not see his family again until the collapse of the Soviet regime six years later, although their marriage soon ended due to their prolonged time apart. If Oleg had been caught he would have been tortured and executed, and most of his family would have been rounded up as well., Oleg Gordievsky today. 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. Now this (barrier) is removed, he said. 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. 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. It was obvious to me that I had been poisoned.. 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). 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. 06:01 EDT 17 Sep 2018. 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 was forced to leave his second wife Leila and their two children behind in the USSR. For an extraordinary period he was briefing British and Soviet spies and Margaret Thatcher, who referred to him as Mr Collins. He spoke extensively to Gordievsky, who is now 79 and living in the home counties a remarkable figure, proud, shrewd and irascible. They have a duty of care to her as they do to Oleg. The Soviets panicked and prepared to launch their missiles first, believing it was the only way to save themselves. Upon his arrival in Moscow, he was sure that he was under surveillance and his house was bugged. Only 2% of people can spot the odd couple hidden among the silhouettes so are you among them? Oleg Gordievsky, the most prominent Soviet agent to defect to Britain during the Cold War, personally pleaded with Margaret Thatcher to help secure the release of his family from 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. Oleg resented the strict discipline, the endless paperwork, the malevolent atmosphere. For the Russian chess grandmaster, see, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, "The Spy and the Traitor review a gripping tale of escape from the USSR", "In 'The Spy and the Traitor,' a tale of Cold War espionage that's both thrilling and true", "Thirty years later, we still don't know who betrayed these Cold War spies", "The truth about Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB spy who changed the course of the Cold War", "KGB MAN TURNED BRITISH SPY CAN'T PINPOINT HIS BETRAYER", "Miss Marple mastermind of Cold War spy's escape", "The secret lives of MI6's top female spies", "Gordievsky: Russia has as many spies in Britain now as the USSR ever did", "'Sunday Times' pays Foot damages over KGB claim", "Literary world applauds Rushdie knighthood", "Was Foot a national treasure or the KGBs useful idiot? [2] Gordievsky felt, given the huge benefits MI6 would reap if he remained rezident of the embassy, that he was being encouraged by MI6 to return to Moscow as ordered, and decided on that;[2] MI6 began to revive a plan to extricate him if necessary. During your trial you will have complete digital access to FT.com with everything in both of our Standard Digital and Premium Digital packages. He arrived just as the Berlin Wall went up, and woke one morning to the sound of tanks rumbling past the Soviet embassy. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR, outwitting their Russian adversaries. Though there was no substantial threat, the MI6 engineered an escape plan, codenamed PIMLICO, for their prized asset. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the Settings & Account section. Discover the stars who skyrocketed on IMDb's STARmeter chart this year, and explore more of the Best of 2022; including top trailers, posters, and photos. After that, he was released and told that he would never work abroad again. He was presented with the prestigious Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007. This signal would trigger a plan to smuggle Gordievsky into Finland in the boot of a diplomatic car. [20], Gordievsky included a discussion of his exfiltration in his memoir, Next Stop Execution, published in 1995.[3]. Gordievsky made contact with the Danish security services. [24] The Guardian newspaper noted that it was "the same gong given (to) his fictional cold war colleague James Bond. offers FT membership to read for free. Gordievsky remains a passionate Anglophile, subscribing to The Spectator and penning articles for the Literary Review. 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. [29] He accused MI6 of forcing Special Branch to drop its early investigations into his allegations;[29] according to him, the investigation was only reopened due to the intervention of former MI5 Director General Eliza Manningham-Buller. Theyre doing it on Facebook, theyre doing it on Twitter, but the technique is the same., What are they after? At 7.30pm on Tuesdays British officers would watch a bread shop next to Kutuzovsky Prospekt, a diplomatic complex. 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. However, the marriage was effectively dead by then and eventually it foundered completely. We support credit card, debit card and PayPal payments. Operation Pimlico plan was almost scuppered, Oleg Gordievsky: How a dirty nappy and bag of crisps saved British spy | News | The Times. He was fascinated by subjects such as language and history, since a young age. A lot of what spies do doesnt amount to a hill of beans. Both of them had high aspirations in life. This averted a nuclear war between the two super powers. One of the things Oleg was tasked to do when he first came over here in 1982 was to interfere with the General Election. As soon as he arrived he realised he had been rumbled. 05:57 EDT 17 Sep 2018 However, he does view him as stunningly naive. It went some way towards exorcising the Cambridge spies, who a generation earlier had travelled in the opposite direction. Godievsky was summoned back to Moscow (pictured) in 1985 under the guise of being made the head of the KGB in Britain. But it was the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia that propelled Gordievsky towards the west and, as he put it, determined the course of my own life. 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. 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. 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. 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. In 1972 Gordievsky went back to Denmark for a second tour. Gordievsky was sent to East Germany as a translator in August 1961, for a short tenure of 6 months. They were reunited six years later but the marriage didn't survive. She was sociable, interesting, original, witty and eager to be liked. A refresher memo was concealed in an OUP edition of Shakespeares sonnets. In 1975, after a year of passing valuable information the West, he was called back to Moscow. 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. May Day parade in Moscow, 1970, the year in which Gordievsky was singled out by MI6. Lunch followed. [2] The 2019 edition of the book includes an Afterword of post-publication reactions from officers of MI6, the KGB, and the CIA who had been involved in the events surrounding Gordievsky. He sat in the back of a Finnish rental car as Pettit drove them north for the Norwegian border. His first tentative step was to call his then wife Yelena from an embassy phone bugged by the Danes, and to declare: Theyve done it! Get local insights from Lisbon to Moscow with an unrivalled network of journalists across Europe, 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. They didnt interfere, but they didnt stop me. That he managed to deceive his KGB colleagues during this time was remarkable. There were stages in his journey. In later life, Gordievsky has been cantankerous and reproving. 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. Oleg Gordievsky, Soviet spy and double agent. He worked as a double agent for the British secret service during the Cold War, between 1974 and 1985. 894646. 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. Joseph Curtis For Mailonline Premium access for businesses and educational institutions. Meanwhile, the book also reveals how years earlier Gordievsky had lived more than one double life after he began an affair with a typist Leila Alieva, the daughter of a high ranking KGB agent herself, while based in Copenhagen. Oleg is very proud of that. [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. Gordievsky has written a number of books on the subject of the KGB and is a frequently quoted media pundit on the subject. He was briefed on RYAN before he left Moscow, but by the time he reached London, the operation was well on its way. You can still enjoy your subscription until the end of your current billing period. Women played a crucial part. Best-selling author Jane Green gives some 'brutal love' to a woman with nowhere left to turn, Experts are recommending 'Swedish death cleaning' - and they say it's your duty to your children, Donald Trump Jr. says Ron DeSantis is 'afraid to cross Paul Ryan and Fox' after Florida governor refuses to comment on Tucker Carlson being fired from network, Man with micropenis reveals how he broaches the topic with potential sexual partners, Tee off in the tee box: Moment a BRAWL between rival golfers erupts on Florida course after one group accuses another of playing too slow, Two teens, aged 16 and 18, are killed and four high schoolers are fighting for their lives after 19-year-old opens fire at Mississippi house party. He was suspected of espionage for a foreign power, but his superiors stalled on taking any overt further action against him. The plan was called PIMLICO. For a full comparison of Standard and Premium Digital, click here. The long absence took its toll, however, and he and his wife Leila separated not long afterwards. [3], The son of an officer of the NKVD (the Soviet secret police and precursor to the KGB), Gordievsky was born in 1938. His wife, Leila (an Azeri) was the daughter of a KGB officer and was unaware of her husband's defection. 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. Most people have no idea how close we were to nuclear war at that time, says Ben Macintyre, author of The Spy And The Traitor, which tells the extraordinary true story of a KGB agent turned British informant called Oleg Gordievsky. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for $69 per month. Published: 22:02 BST, 18 May 2019 | Updated: 09:18 BST, 19 May 2019, Were walking through a park in London where a Soviet spy once carried out a secret drop just before he saved the world. However, it cannot be legally carried out because of the Russian membership of the Council of Europe., He has written quite a few books on the KGB.. If youd like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. It included details of the KGBs attempts to influence western elections through active measures. 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. For 11 years, he spied for MI6. [30], In Gordievsky's opinion, the culprit was a UK-based Russian business associate who had supplied him with pills, which he said were the sedative Xanax, purportedly for insomnia; he refused to identify the associate, saying British authorities had advised against it. Ive known for some time that I am on the assassination list drawn up by elements in Moscow, he said at the time. 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. But he was also, bravely, spying for the West. p&p of 1.99. His accusations over the years have proved controversial and his claims have been interpreted very differently by the right and left in Britain. He left them on the swings, went behind the hedge and dropped a brick with the notes, wrapped in a plastic bag., But, of course, Gordievsky had told the British too. Gordievsky, MI6 discovered, was a star asset. Gordievsky's second wife, Leiladaughter of a KGB generaland their two daughters were sent back to Moscow, causing panic in MI6. According to Gordievsky the KGB made regular payments to Foot in the 1950s and 60s, up until the Prague Spring. IMDb Best of 2022. He had two daughters with Leila. 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? [2] After being recalled to Moscow under suspicion, he was exfiltrated from the Soviet Union in July 1985 under a plan code-named Operation Pimlico. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side. Gordievsky remains under sentence of death. 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. 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. Far from disappearing, because we do everything online now, the secret world is more important than ever. Gordievskys double life started after a junior MI6 officer saw his name while leafing through a personnel file. Gordievsky graciously accepted the award from the Queen, wearing top hat and tails. The cash went to fund the magazine Tribune. As soon as he arrived he realised he had been rumbled. 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. Interview with Oleg Gordievsky and Leila Gordievsky, a defected Russian agent and his wife. It went some way towards exorcising the Cambridge spies, who a generation earlier had travelled in the opposite direction. 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. 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. The double life of a KGB insider recruited by MI6 features microfilm, Soviet secrets and a daring escape. Its an old Stalinist technique called maskirovka, little masquerade, which means confusing everybody so that nobody knows what is real and what isnt. His father, his brother, and his first wife were all members of the infamous organization. Then as a KGB trainee he spent six months in East Berlin. 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'. That he managed to deceive his KGB colleagues during this time was remarkable. Of course they are still at it. Spies, God bless them, are brilliantly indiscreet. Confusion. The plan was simple, and almost comic. Four days laterGordievsky met two officers and their wives at a point south of Vybord where he was bundled into the boot of one of two cars and covered in a heat reflective blanket. Betrayal eventually came from a venal CIA officer, Aldrich Ames, who tipped off Moscow Ames is the traitor of the books title. Mr Gordievsky, who became the highest-ranking Soviet spy to defect to the West, escaped to Britain in 1985. Soon afterwards, the Soviet government invited a prominent American, Donald Trump, to visit Moscow. Oleg Gordievsky: With Leila Gordievsky, Oleg Gordievsky, Ronald Reagan, Oliver 'Buck' Revell. Play it now! Its author was Veronica Price a senior intelligence officer, working out of Century House, MI6s unattractive HQ. [6][2] After returning to Moscow on 19 May 1985, Gordievsky was drugged and interrogated, but not yet criminally charged; instead he was placed in a non-existent desk job in a nonoperational department of the KGB. He continued to deny the accusations until his death at the age of 96 eight years ago. Description. 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. In contrast to Gordievskys wife, Yelena, she was shy and unworldly, but when she relaxed her laugh was loud and infectious. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. Oleg Gordievsky was raised in a KGB family. By then, he had been made the chief of KGB at the London embassy. 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. Macintyre writes that Foot wasnt a Soviet spy. What he didn't tell her was about the secret life that awaited him. 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. 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. He was initially paralysed and still has no feeling in his fingers. The books most contentious section concerns Michael Foot whom, Macintyre writes, the KGB cultivated for two decades. In 2007, Gordievsky was made a Companion to the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to the security of the UK. Gordievsky was featured in the PBS documentary Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy. 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". In the summer of 1982 Gordievsky moved to London and began regular meetings at a Bayswater safe house with his MI6 handlers. Oleg Gordievsky (Former Colonel of the KGB and Bureau Chief in London) Oleg Gordievsky is a Russian-born former British secret agent. 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. 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. [2] He was suddenly summoned back to Moscow via a telegram on 16 May 1985. 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. 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. He was informed that he would never be posted overseas, and in June 1985, his family was brought back to the USSR. Oleg A. Gordievsky: A secret agent. He came to believe that he was serving a corrupt, barbarian regime. On July 16, 1985, a man could be seen standing outsidea bread shop on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, the wide avenue running from the centre of Moscow, at 7.30pm.