Oleg Gordievsky: Escape from the USSR

The death on 4 March 2025 of Oleg Gordievsky, British intelligence’s mole in the KGB, prompts me to write about his escape from the Soviet Union in July 1985, which had the hallmarks of a Hollywood thriller.

Vladimir Kryuchkov: KGB’s Last Spymaster

Vladimir Kryuchkov (1924–2007) is best known for the failed August 1991 coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. He oversaw two of America’s worst Cold War intelligence breaches, Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen. Kryuchkov took measures to deflect attention from both double-agents during CIA/FBI mole hunts. His success at deceiving CIA allowed both moles to operate for longer than they probably should have.

Markus Wolf’s Spycraft: Decrypting Stasi’s “Rosenholz Files”

Essay on the “Rosewood” (Rosenholz) files—microfilmed database of Stasi agents in the West acquired by CIA after the Berlin Wall fell (Der Mauerfall)—and Markus Wolf’s elaborate coding system that took CIA years to crack before they could identify his spies in US and Europe. Essays includes number of photos taken by me of Stasi HQ

Karlshorst: 9 May 1945 German Surrender and KGB Rezidentura in Berlin

On the anniversary of the German surrender at Karlshorst, east Berlin, in the presence of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, a bit of history—and lots of photos and videos, including by me—about the vicinity, which was used for administration of the Soviet Zone (1945–49); and housed the biggest KGB station in the world (1954–1991).