In March 1992 in Vilnius, Lithuania, an old man walked into the recently established British Embassy, holding a bag containing sausages. But those sausages were concealing documents liberated from the KGB archives in Moscow, and the old man was Vasili Mitrokhin, chief archivist of Russia’s secret police. His defection provided the West with vast amounts of material that provided information on the Cambridge Spy ring, but also ongoing operations including the Illegals – Soviet moles burrowed deep inside American society.

Gordon Corera joins to discuss his new book The Spy in the Archive. Gordon is speaking to me as part of the Chalke History Festival, which runs from 23rd to 29th June. Aspects of History is sponsoring Gordon’s talk with the novelist Charles Cumming.

Gordon Corera Links

The Spy in the Archive

Chalke History Festival

Aspects of History Links

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