He succeeded in transferring to the West 111 Minox films with 5,500 top-secret Soviet military documents, totaling 7,650 pages. However, as the last sozzled Hungarian official stumbled home, Wynne realised that the game was up and he wouldnt be going to Moscow at least, that is, not for a rendezvous with Penkovsky. Penkovsky ostensibly wanted to trade Soviet military secrets for a new life in the West with his wife and daughter. Four men had appeared as if by magic, Wynne recalled of the moment it dawned on him that his spy work had been rumbled. In 1945. Dmitri Polyakov. So, behind the Iron Curtain, American spies did most of the work themselves. Penkovsky's father might have fled to the West rather than have died of typhus as Penkovsky had previously reported, the KGB prohibited Penkovsky from assuming his post in New Delhi but permitted him to remain in the GRU after his mother submitted a statement detailing her family's ignorance of her husband's fate.28 Having twice been the focus of BBC drama series 1985s Wynne And Penkovsky, and Nuclear Secrets in 2007 which explored how Wynne and Penkovsky supplied the West with information on Russias nuclear build-up in Cuba that helped prevent a nuclear holocaust in the Cuban Missile Crisis this remarkable episode in British espionage is to finally get the Hollywood treatment. They were warned, and that the aircraft had entered Cuban airspace. The film sees him arrested on a plane leaving Moscow and does not delve into his show trial for spying alongside Penkovsky in May 1963. The film sees him arrested on a plane leaving. In Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky. In 1945, In 2006, British diplomats were embarrassed by the spy rock scandal, and in 2010, Anna Chapman and others were swapped for individuals who had been accused by Russia of being spies. In Russia, Colonel Oleg Vladimirovich PENKOVSKY, executed in Moscow 34 years ago is regarded as a traitor. The KGB devoted huge resources to counter-espionage and a British agent would have been spotted approaching Penkovsky in the Russian capital but Wynne a civilian with officially sanctioned business in the city would arouse less suspicion. Wynne and Penkovsky pleaded guilty on 7 May 1963 and were sentenced four days later. Wynne was sentenced to eight years in prison. Besides, she knew too much. The fascinating part is how something that seems . Balding and jowly, William Harvey didnt look like any of the screen Bonds. Brought up in the North Caucasus, Penkovsky graduated from the Kiev Artillery Academy with the rank of lieutenant in 1939. While The Couriers Dickie Franks was based on a real person, according to USA Today, CIA agent. It is designed to embarrass and show up the amateurishness of the other side - one spy service showing it has one up on its opponent and that opponent, no doubt, now keen to get its own back. He is known as one of the greatest spies in the world. During a trip to London in April 1961, the Soviet colonel held a series of meetings with his new handlers and received special equipment, including a Minox portable camera. How many times did Benny shoot The Courier? Their signals about Penkovskys excessive inquisitiveness regarding matters not directly related to him, as well as his suspicious behavior, allowed our officers to expose this dangerous criminal.. Reagan recorded the following entry in his diary after the meeting: Forgotthis morning had a meeting with Col. Oleg Antonvich Gordiyevskiy [sic]the Soviet K.G.B. What can be in no doubt is that Wynne, an engineer and wealthy businessman, worked for British intelligence, although when he started and how much he did for them is still hotly debated. On November 2, 1962, two such calls came. Son And Daughter Now. The work involved considerable foreign travel, including crucially to the Soviet bloc. After four months, they created an underground passage 1,800 feet long. Read about our approach to external linking. Your email address will not be published. In turn Penkovsky introduces Wynne to his wife Vera (Maria Mironova) and daughter, though he explains that he can't invite the foreigner to their apartment. According to Wynne, he was first recruited by MI5 in 1938 when he discovered a German spy was using an illegal wireless transmitter at a Nottingham factory where they both worked. Greville Wynne And Oleg Penkovsky were both arrested by the Soviets in 1962. the Fate of close relatives of traitors (most of the traitors after the exposure was executed in the Soviet Union) were different. He came back to London and resumed his career in business. One was received by the CIAs deputy chief in Moscow, Hugh Montgomery, and the other by MI6s head of station, Gervase Cowell, who had recently replaced Ruari Chisholm. Sir Gerry Warner, a former deputy chief of MI6, recalled the incident in a 2012 interview with the BBC: He did nothingwhich was exactly the right thing to do. In Moscow, his main channel of communication was a man called Greville Wynne, who often visited the USSR on trade matters. Besides Wynne, ten other U.S. and British agents all embassy employees contacted Penkovsky. There are different versions concerning the fate of foreign money, proclaimed Adolf Tolkachev. You can be sure of my devotion, dedication and determination in fighting for your (and now my) cause. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Several times he reached out to the West: through U.S. tourists in Moscow and British businessman Greville Wynne, who had links with British intelligence. They just wanted the cash. MI6's agent, however, eventually fell under suspicion, and was ordered back. Family Shevchenko and Minister of foreign Affairs of the USSR Andrei Gromyko friends. Not one stood out in a crowd. But President Vladimir Putin KGBs former chief in East Berlin, who was burning secret files even as the Wall fell still likes the old ways. Required fields are marked *. For years, he watched his friends grab all the plum jobs. 27 Western spy tools confiscated by the Soviet KGB, Kim Philby: The story of the Soviet Unions best spy in Britain, The most sensational Western spy failures in the USSR. Discovered and arrested in 1985, Walker got a life sentence. The Kremlin particularly prized Americans who could be persuaded to pass along information. THE GLOBALDOMAINSNEWS - THE GLOBAL DOMAINS NEWS, As the USSR came with the relatives of traitors to the Motherland, What is the most unusual trophy brought the Red Army from Germany, Why are the soldiers in the squad Lermontov was like a gang of outlaws, 7 Popular Casino Games You Can Play in Vegas, A Brief Explanation on Different Types of Glocks. But there was a price: After two years, they had to help him and his family escape. As an intelligence officer 22:56 GMT 01 Jul 2021 [1] She then studied French at Grenoble University. Espionage historians are now fairly certain Kuznov never existed, just as they are convinced that Wynne never exposed a German spy in 1938 nor that as Wynne also claimed he and Penkovsky flew to Washington DC to be personally thanked by President John F. Kennedy. Before they could, though, she got rid of them. Seething, he finally agreed to spy for the Americans. Each time, the spying continued. Janet Anne Chisholm, born May 7 1929; died July 23 2004, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Will you still be able to buy Godiva chocolate? A colonel in Soviet military intelligence, Oleg Penkovsky, was working for them as an agent-in-place, photographing thousands of top-secret documents with a miniature camera, and delivering the. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); We are largest Know-How Listing website, total [total_posts] questions already asked and get answers instantly! Viktor Belenko fled to Japan in 1976 hijacked a Soviet airplane MiG-25P. I wasnt a hundred percent certain that it was the signal, she says now, having retired from MI6 some years ago. But then, Alexander Ogorodnik, a cash-strapped Soviet diplomat, started spying for the Americans and a dissatisfied KGB colonel, Oleg Gordievsky, began doing the same for the English. They showed that the Soviet Union was not ready for war in the region, making it clear to the West that President Khrushchev was bluffing and trying to provoke America into a pre-emptive nuclear strike. Since Oleg Penkovsky offered his services to both the Americans and the British, the CIA and MI6 developed him jointly. History 25/01/20 As the USSR did with the relatives of traitors of the Motherland. The prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was informed about the impending crisis in UK/Russian relations. Unlike the old days, though, these spies werent interested in the cause. , updated Back in October 1961, MI6 and the CIA had set up a system of telephone signals for Penkovsky. His father came to take Irina, Oleg's wife, and the couple's two children, six-year-old Sofia and Ivan, who was not even two months old, to his house in Vesele. During a trip to London in April 1961, the Soviet colonel held a series of . He was recruited to MI5 just before World War II. Powers was eventually released in a prisoner swap detailed in Steven Spielbergs Bridge of Spies.. After Penkovsky and Wynne were captured by the KGB, which happened very similar to how their capture is depicted in the film, the GRU lieutenant colonel been convicted of treason and sentenced to death by firing squad. He was arrested by the Soviets in 1962 and executed the next. Wynne and his Russian source, Oleg Penkovsky (codenamed Ironbark), provided crucial intelligence that ended the Cuban Missile Crisis." It was an easy exchange. A skilled intelligence officer, he had been promoted a few months before to rezident, or chief, of the KGB station in the. Penkovsky and Greville smuggled more than 5000 top-secret military documents out of the USSR. In 1955, he said he was approached by his former friends in intelligence who encouraged him to develop his business in Eastern Europe. Documents released to the National Archives in Kew expose the complex calculations shaping cold war espionage, while politicians cultivated a thaw in personal relationships with Mikhail Gorbachev. He was immediately arrested and killed by firing squad. But before the two years were up, a KGB agent caught him passing secrets. In a Moscow park, Penkovsky also passed packets of sweets (with camera film hidden inside) to the wife of a British MI6 officer while she was pushing her children in a pram. br> Share on Tumblr. The Courier: Directed by Dominic Cooke. After the war, Wynne worked in the electrical goods trade, in 1950 setting up his own business as an exporter of industrial engineering products. Ask them questions to journalists is not allowed. The options are a) 25, b) 9 with 16 others required to leave, c) 9 (foreign secretarys preference). Thatchers blue pen had circled 25. Ames, meanwhile, hated that he only made $60,000 a year. Oleg Penkovsky and Greville Wynne clandestinely smuggled 5000 top-secret . While Oleg was tried and executed by the Soviets, they sentenced Wynne to eight years in prison. Penkovskys motivation was probably sheer desperation. However, he was a broken man who would become estranged from his family and descend into alcoholism. However, Gordievsky soon separated from his wife. Ames walked in with the names of Russian double agents and walked out with $50,000. Penkovsky had been given a list of numbers, one of which was Felicity Stuarts. Greville Wynne was sentenced after a short trial in Moscow in 1963, Col Gordievsky had to be smuggled out Russia in an MI6 officer's car, The "spy rock" scandal severely strained British-Russian relations, Rescuers search wreckage of deadly Greece train crash. Penkovsky was wounded in action in 1944, at about the same time as Varentsov, who appointed him his Liaison Officer. 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