The stories of Oleg Gordievsky, Sergei Bokhan and Leonid Poleshchukreported here in extensive new detail and based on interviews with Gordievsky, Bokhan and Andrei Poleshchuk, as well as former FBI and CIA officialssuggest the damage a mole can do. pic.twitter.com/EbShcFsWv2, Kenneth MacRae (@kmacraeplockton) February 19, 2022. A KGB general told him he had confessed. Clearly the KGB had searched his flat. They married in 1993, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he worked for an independent newspaper in Moscow for a time. It is possible that Gordievsky, Bokhan and Poleshchuk fell under KGB suspicion through some operational error or communications intercept. [16] The noted Soviet sculptor Ernst Neizvestny said that he had been told by the director of the Donskoye Cemetery crematorium "how Penkovsky [had been] executed by 'fire'". His arrest was followed by a public trial in May 1963. What makes Hunting Pest Services stand out from any other pest services provider is not only the quality of the results we deliver but also our versatility. He always hoped Leila would join him in England. Documents released by National Archives show British officials saw efforts to free Oleg Gordievsky's family as a lost cause Owen Bowcott and Richard Norton-Taylor Mon 29 Dec 2014 19.01 EST Last . For the following 18 months, Penkovsky supplied a tremendous amount of information to the CIAMI6 team of handlers, including documents demonstrating that the Soviet nuclear arsenal was much smaller than Nikita Khrushchev claimed or the CIA had thought and that the Soviets were not yet capable of producing a large number of ICBMs. It was surreal, like a bad nightmare, Andrei told me. Top KGB officers had known for more than a year that Penkovsky was a British agent, but they protected their source, a highly placed mole in MI6. Bokhans son, Alex, also made it to the U.S., in 1995. Oleg Penkovsky saved the world from mushroom clouds and untold deaths in the fall of 1962. We have no more Information about his Father; we will try to collect information and update soon. This knowledge gave Kennedy the upper hand he needed to successfully negotiate away from the brink of nuclear war. And yet to an intelligence agency, ignoring the possibility of a mole isnt really an option, either. A large man let him in and flashed a badge. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine [13], Penkovsky was arrested on 22 October 1962. Penkovsky-wynne spy trial, May 1963, a Sanyo portable transistor radio . In 1944, he was assigned to the headquarters of Colonel-General Sergei Varentsov, commander of artillery on the 1st Ukrainian front, who became his patron. Fathers name is Not Available. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Oleg Penkovsky saved the world from mushroom clouds and untold deaths in the fall of 1962. Before Ames, there was Edward Lee Howard, a CIA officer who had been slated to go to Moscow but was fired instead for drug use and petty theft. Penkovsky was executed but there are conflicting reports about the manner of his death. Oleg and Vera are both even-tempered and have mutual respect for each other. Though much of Americas knowledge of the Soviet nuclear missile installations in Cuba came from spy plane photographs, one man defied his country to bring America vital intelligence that helped prevent nuclear war. Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky, (born April 23, 1919, Vladikavkaz, Russiadied May 1963?, U.S.S.R.), senior Soviet military intelligence officer who was convicted of spying for the United Kingdom and the United States. Boy and daughter now Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky were captured by the Soviets in 1962. He did so, but nothing happened. [9] While the weight of opinion seems to be that Penkovsky was genuine, the debate underscores the difficulty faced by all intelligence agencies of determining information offered from the enemy. Bokhan froze. The agency cautioned that it would be too risky for him to bring that much cash through the airport and told him the money would be in Moscow, stashed inside a fake rock. After many years, I understood him. Now, he feared, the KGBs counterspies had become suspicious and were recalling him to confront him. The next thing he knew, he woke up half-dressed in one of the dachas bedrooms. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The CIA. He was reputedly on friendly terms with Penkovsky,[21] which is very likely to have been a cause of his fall. Boy and daughter now Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky were captured by the Soviets in 1962. Stuzhin & Cheredintzev/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. The mole isnt just some guy who stole a few secrets. For a long time he resented the impact of his fathers CIA spying on his own life. Officially, he was shot to death. Hed been back at headquarters only four months earlier, and all seemed well. At the same time, the enormous risks for the spy himself became evident in the fate of Penkovsky . The Wynne-Penkovsky case came at the height of the Cold War when relations between the superpowers were particularly strained. Alexander Zagvozdin, ngi ng u b phn thm vn ca KGB, cho bit Penkovsky "c l b tra hi hng trm ln" trc khi b bn. Some believe Penkovsky was burned alive as Soviet punishment for his treasonous espionage. Only a few days earlier he had called his brother-in-law in Kiev, where Alex was studying, and been assured his son was doing well. Some of it just didnt add up, he says. Penkovsky (right) during his trial. Three other officers were also disciplined. Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? But before the two years were up, a KGB agent caught him passing secrets. After some months, she was released. Subsequently, a trade was exchanged after the British had a Russian government agent, Konon Molody, under his tutelage. Oleg Penkovsky. He met with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan, wrote a memoir and co-wrote a book on the KGB. As soon as Gordievsky landed in Moscow, he picked up signs that he had gambled wrong. Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky redirected the virus war. Northolt Airport, England. [19] Greville Wynne, in his book The Man from Odessa, claimed that Penkovsky killed himself. Upon his return, Greville married his secretary and narrator, Herma Van Burren. He would not say why. A few days after Oleg Gordievsky was recalled to Moscow, the KGB flew his wife, Leila, and their two daughters there, and he broke the unwelcome news that they would not be posted back to London. Leonid and his wife, Lyudmila, had been back two weeks when the KGB showed up at their door. Your Privacy Rights But the CIA and FBI debriefers soon recognized a glaring anomaly in Ames account: It was clear that those three agents had fallen under suspicion in May 1985before Ames insists he handed over the documents. IN their own highly bizarre fashion, these two books represent what seems to be the first public encounter, via the literary confrontation of its agents, between the Soviet KGB and the Ameri- can CIA: the British, as spies and the spied-upon, occupy a hazy middle ground. It said Bokhans son, Alex, 18, was having trouble in military school and suggested the deputy take his vacation now, three months early, and return to the Soviet Union to deal with him. If you are interested in finding out more about our services, feel free to contact us right away! He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. In his memoir Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer (1987), written with journalist Paul Greengrass, Wright says: When I first wrote my Penkovsky analysis Maurice Oldfield (later Chief of MI6 in the 1970s), who played a key role in the Penkovsky case as Chief of Station in Washington, told me: 'You've got a long row to hoe with this one, Peter, there's a lot of K's [knighthoods] and Gongs [medals] riding high on the back of Penkovsky' he said, referring to the honours heaped on those involved in the Penkovsky operation. He had never told his wife that he was working for the CIAit would have put her in mortal dangerbut now he had to say something. When I came to Moscow, she left, he says, taking the children with her on a vacation. Six days before Kennedys successful diplomatic resolution of the crisis, Penkovsky was arrested. I went into the bathroom, locked the door and stared at myself in the mirror.. A somewhat baroque means of murder, the killer shuts their victim in a coffin (knocking them out first is optional) and feeds the coffin into a crematorium oven. The same year, he said, they spotted the potential of Colonel Oleg Penkovsky, the assistant Soviet military attache in Ankara, Turkey. After school, she worked in London as a secretary before joining the Allied Control Commission and moving to West Germany. [2] On Varentsov's recommendation, he studied at the Frunze Military Academy in 1945-48, then worked as a staff officer. what happened to oleg penkovsky wife and daughter, what happened to oleg penkovsky daughter, what happened to oleg penkovsky wife and child, what happened to oleg penkovsky family, what happened to oleg penkovsky . Gordievsky was taken home, but Grushko confronted him at the KGB the next day. Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky born 23 April 1919 died 16 May 1963, USSR codenamed HERO, was a colonel with Soviet military intelligence (GRU) during the late . Five days after Bokhan received the cable about his son, he took his wife, Alla, and their 10-year-old daughter, Maria, to the beach. Before Leonid Poleshchuk left Lagos, he had asked the CIA for $20,000 to buy the apartment that was supposedly waiting for him. Wright was bitter towards British intelligence, reportedly believing that it should have adopted his proposed methods to identify British/Soviet double agents. There were embraces, and everyone cried. The Courier (9/10) by Tony Medley 105 minutes. In May 1963, after his trial, Izvestya reported that Varentsov, who had since achieved the rank of Chief Marshal of Artillery and Commander in Chief of Rocket Forces and candidate member of the Central Committee had been demoted to the rank of Major General. Were they executed? In October 1962, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were on the brink of nuclear war after Soviet nuclear missiles were spotted in Cuba. Introduction. By 1993 their marriage was over. GRU agent Vladimir Rezun, however, claimed in his memoir that he saw footage of Penkovsky being strapped to a stretcher inside of a crematorium and burned alive. Lt. Col. Oleg Penkovsky, born the same year as Wynne in 1919, was the man on the inside, the Russian GRU spy who smuggled out military documents, photos, and human intelligence - including gossip he'd pick up at parties - which he passed to Wynne during business meetings. He had champagne and flowers waiting, a big basket of fruit, chocolates and a balloon. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). On March 19, 2021, after a COVID-induced delay, the new historical thriller The Courier, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, had its world premiere. Thats when they showed me a piece of paper with the words, I met Joe, Andrei told me. It is also a tragedy: The KGB caught Penkovsky . I had no job. His escape plan was bound under the flyleaf of a novel; he had to slit the cover open to read the instructions. And he really was a hero by anyone's standards, and incredibly thwarted. I could not believe what was happening. He underwent a debriefing by MI6 and cooperated with it and other Western intelligence services. He was arrested for espionage in Budapest on Nov. 16, 1962. Wikimedia CommonsOleg Penkovskys father died in the Russian Revolution. In July 1994, Leslie Wiser, the FBI agent who unmasked Ames, flew to London to interview Gordievsky. Penkovsky was the highest-ranking Soviet official to provide intelligence for the West up until that time, and is one of several individuals credited with altering the course of the Cold War. He was the real deal. Positive Elements. We have no information about his girlfriend/boyfriend. A Russian undercover agent and a cooperating MI6 had the opportunity to gain close access to a vast amount of information that prevented an atomic conflict at the time. He provided the CIA and MI6 with extensive debriefing sessions totaling up to 140 hours, delivered invaluable documents, and over 5,000 Soviet photos. In simple terms, the GRU was Soviet army intelligence. On the front door of his apartment, someone had locked a third lock he never used because he had lost the key; he had to break in. Wynne was arrested and jailed as a spy The moonlighting spy was arrested on a business trip to Budapest in November 1962 and taken to the Soviet Union. Some days passed before his boss, Viktor Grushko, drove him to a KGB dacha, saying some people wanted to talk to him. After being wounded in battle in 1944, Penkovsky left the army and joined the renowned Frunze Military Academy. As soon as I realized what this was, I closed everything up andstarted looking for an exterminator who could help me out. In either scenario, the double agent died on May 16, 1963. Over the two weeks that followed, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khruschev engaged in tense negotiations, but the Americans had an ace up their sleeves. (Howard, Russian authorities reported in 2002, died of a fall in his KGB dacha near Moscow. 276 to 280, "A Spy Story: Sergei Skripal Was a LIttle Fish. Andrei was allowed to visit him in prison only once, after he was sentenced to death. In 1945, Penkovsky married the teenage daughter of Lieutenant-General Dmitri Gapanovich, thus acquiring another high-ranking patron. Greville Wynnes cause of death: Where is his family? 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