Oleg Gordievsky, famed Cold War spy and KGB defector, dead at 86

Geoff Nixon · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 22, 2025 10:13 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Oleg Gordievsky, a high-ranking KGB serviceman who spied for the West during the tallness of the Cold War, has died astatine the property of 86.

Gordievsky died connected March 4 successful England, wherever helium had lived since defecting from the Soviet Union successful 1985. Police said connected Saturday that they are not treating his decease arsenic suspicious. The BBC reported connected Friday that Gordievsky "died peacefully" astatine his location successful Surrey.

The satellite learned his sanction 4 decades ago, erstwhile the British Foreign Office announced connected Sept. 12, 1985, that Gordievsky — initially described arsenic being a elder authoritative of the KGB — had sought and been granted asylum successful the United Kingdom.

After his defection, then-prime curate Margaret Thatcher sought to chopped a woody with Moscow: If Gordievsky's woman and daughters were allowed to articulation him successful London, Britain would not expel each of the KGB agents helium had exposed.

Moscow rejected the offer, and Thatcher, pointing to accusation Gordievsky provided, ordered the expulsion of much than 2 twelve radical — diplomats, journalists and commercialized officials among them — implicit allegations they were progressive successful spying.

The determination was announced despite objections from Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, who feared it could scuttle relations conscionable arsenic reforming Soviet person Mikhail Gorbachev was easing the stalemate betwixt Russia and the West.

Soviet officials rejected the spying allegations, with a spokesperson telling reporters that "all accusations, oregon insinuations, arsenic to the alleged amerciable activities of the Soviet representatives person thing to bash with reality."

Moscow responded by expelling 25 Britons. But despite Howe's fears, diplomatic relations were ne'er severed.

Reassuring a jittery Moscow

Two years before his defection, in 1983, Gordievsky had warned Britain and the United States that the Soviet enactment was truthful disquieted astir a atomic onslaught by the West that it was considering a archetypal strike. As tensions spiked during a NATO subject workout successful Germany, Gordievsky helped reassure Moscow that it was not a precursor to a atomic attack.

Soon after, Ronald Reagan, U.S. president astatine the time, began moves to easiness atomic tensions with the Soviet Union.

With time, the nationalist would larn much astir the melodramatic circumstances that brought Gordievsky to a caller beingness successful the West.

He'd been posted to the KGB's London bureau successful 1982, but his tenure determination abruptly ended a fewer years later, erstwhile Gordievsky was recalled to the Soviet Union on suspicion of being a Western mole — which helium was, arsenic he'd been sharing secrets with British quality for years.

Daring escape, archetypal heading to Finland

In May 1985, Gordievsky returned to Moscow, arsenic directed, and helium endured interrogation but was not charged.

In July of that year, helium made a melodramatic flight from the Soviet Union, via a British exfiltration effort that saw him spirited crossed the borderline to Finland while helium hid successful the trunk of a car.

Agents progressive successful his rescue are said to person played a cassette signaling of Jean Sibelius's Finlandia as a awesome to Gordievsky that they had made it crossed the border. He was then flown to Britain done Norway.

Gordievsky's household remained nether KGB surveillance for six years earlier being allowed to articulation him successful England successful 1991, the twelvemonth the Soviet Union dissolved.

"Many times, I was saying to myself: 'It's similar a movie, it's similar a movie,'" Gordievsky told the BBC's Witness History podcast successful 2015, recounting the communicative of his escape. "It was incredible."

British authorities recognition Gordievsky with having made "an outstanding contribution" to the country's national information and to helping tamp down tensions betwixt Russia and the West during "a captious clip of the Cold War."