He was recruited to MI5 just before World War II. His boyhood nickname, back on a collective farm in Ukraine, was Mole. Now a stocky, powerfully built man of 43, he had been working for the GRU for 16 yearsand feeding Soviet secrets to the CIA for 10. (1) BBC Broadcast (11th May, 1963) A British businessman accused of spying for the West has been sentenced to eight years' detention by a Moscow tribunal. Then he kissed his wife and daughter goodbye. During a trip to London in April 1961, the Soviet colonel held a series of . American and British intelligence agencies believed the safest . Maria, then 16, was carrying the patatuff. 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. Wynne had worked as both Penkovsky's contact and courier; both men were arrested by the Soviets in October 1962. harvp error: no target: CITEREFSchecterDeriabinPenkovskij1992 (. After Ames was arrested and charged with espionage, his attorney, Plato Cacheris, negotiated a plea bargain with prosecutors: Ames wife, Rosario, an accomplice in his spying, would be spared a long prison sentence if he cooperated fully with the authorities. In one of his biggest whoppers, Wynne explains that he and Penkovsky took a trip together in a private military jet from the U.K. to Washington, D.C. Meticulously documenting the wealth of information that Penkovsky provided, Schecter and Deriabin conclusively refute one of the enduring myths of the Cold War - that Oleg Penkovsky was a KGB plant. Menu. After dark they left for a small airport, where Bokhan boarded a CIA plane. [12], Penkovsky's activities were revealed by Jack Dunlap, a National Security Agency (NSA) employee and Soviet spy working for the KGB. Penkovsky gave a huge amount of details about what missiles the Soviets had, how old they were, how there were queues for foodit was an extremely vivid portrait of the country and the people within intelligence, says Duns. 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. "But you have a responsibility to honor the essence of what happened," says director Dominic Cooke. The BBC produced a TV movie based on them. This photograph was taken in the hotel room at the Mount Royal in London in April 1961, after one of our meetings, where Oleg Penkovsky on the left and yours truly on the right enjoying a small glass of wine. These events serve as the inspiration for The Courier, the new film starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Wynne and Georgian actor Merab Ninidze as Penkovsky, out in theaters on March 19. After a West German agent overheard a remark at Stasi headquarters, paraphrased as "I wonder how things are going in Cuba" he passed it on to the CIA. "The Courier" has compressed the real-life story and changed some facts. Wynne was a middle-classBritish businessman whose frequenttravelto Eastern Europe attracted recruitmentby MI-6 to serve as a liaison to high-ranking Soviet official Penkovsky. The coded exchange triggered a meeting that night with his CIA case officer, Dick Reiser, who cabled headquarters in Langley that BLIZZARD was in trouble. Had the Russians examined the car, they would have seen the hump on the floor where the driveshaft would normally be. Seeking ways to parlay the notoriety he received, he became what Duns calls a rent-a-spokesperson for all kinds of espionage stuff, making appearances in the media about anything related to spycraft, whether or not it was anything he had experience with. In 1955 Penkovsky was appointed military attach in Ankara. [Wynne], bless him, for all his wonderful work, was a menace and a fabricator, says Nigel West, who has written numerous books on British and American intelligence organizations, including two books specifically about fabricators in the intelligence arena. It shortened her life, he said. He Had a Big Enemy", : , "Book I: Foreign and Military Intelligence: X. Inside were three British intelligence agentsthe candy-bar man and two women, one of whom was Gordievskys MI6 case officer in London. Cookie Policy 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. He succeeded in transferring to the West 111 Minox films with 5,500 top-secret military documents, totaling 7,650 pages, as well as revealing the identities of hundreds of Soviet agents in the West. At least the timeline based on what Ames said when he was debriefed.If it wasnt Ames, then it was someone else, so we began to search for the source of the compromise, Wiser said. "Thistrue story is a very interesting, skewed way to tellingaticking time-bomb, spy-thriller.". And yet to an intelligence agency, ignoring the possibility of a mole isnt really an option, either. A skilled intelligence officer, he had been promoted a few months before to rezident, or chief, of the KGB station in the. In the midst of the Cold War, a top-ranking Soviet officer named Oleg Penkovsky feared that the risk of nuclear war was too great, and decided to share some of the most closely held secrets of the Soviet arsenal with the West. [20] The head of the GRU, Ivan Serov was sacked during the same period. He created his own computer consulting firm and dabbled in film production. 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. Now, he feared, the KGBs counterspies had become suspicious and were recalling him to confront him. He was probably the West's most valuable double agent during the Cold War. Dunlap was just another source they had to protect. 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. Oleg Gordievsky is a Russian-born former British secret agent. It's athank you from the West for what he sacrificed.". pictures of the galvin family; springfield, ma city council candidates; what happened to penkovsky wife [7], Former KGB major-general Oleg Kalugin does not mention Penkovsky in his comprehensive memoir about his career in intelligence against the West. This gave American officials a clearer picture of what the Soviets were doing in the region, bringing in medium-range ballistic missiles. Cookie Policy Director Cooke says Donovan is a composite character representing several real-life people, includingJanet Chisholmthewife of a Moscow-based British visa officer whoalso served as a conduit for information passed to the West by Penkovsky. The film seeshim arrested on a plane leaving Moscow and does not delve into his show trial for spying alongside PenkovskyinMay 1963. Advertising Notice It was broadcast on 15 January 2007.[22]. Oleg Penkovsky, then a colonel in Russia's military intelligence service known as the GRU, had already passed along intelligence about the shoot-down of American satellite planes in Soviet territory and information on his own GRU graduating class. Terms of Use He drove across the Potomac River to Washington, D.C. and entered Chadwicks, a popular Georgetown restaurant, where he handed the documents to a Soviet Embassy official named Sergei Chuvakhin. At the time, they were largely accepted at face value and sold well. When I found a job, the KGB called and they fired me. For a long time he resented the impact of his fathers CIA spying on his own life. Oleg Penkovsky, aged 44. a scientific worker, told the court that he had passed the information through the child to Mrs. Janet ** Anna " Chisholm, wife of Mr. Roderick Chisholm, who worked at the British embassy from May, I960, to August last year. The operation was the most productive classic clandestine operation ever conducted by the CIA or MI6 against the Soviet target, as Schecter and Deriabin put it, and key to its success was the mustachioed courier with no prior intelligence experience. In November 1960, Greville Wynne, a 41-year-old British businessman, sat down for a lunch that would change his life. Brought up in the North Caucasus, Penkovsky graduated from the Kiev Artillery Academy with the rank of lieutenant in 1939. Long after the massive losses in 1985, the lingering questions still gnaw at their counterintelligence experts. Bokhans son, Alex, also made it to the U.S., in 1995. Ten agents were executed and countless others imprisoned. It was the KGBs way of saying my father worked for the CIA, Andrei said. Its OK. To be dead or to be alive was the question for my dad. Battled mystery flu, fake crew cut facing Jodie Foster in 'The Mauritanian', Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He just was an ordinary man who got thrust into this just extraordinary, life-altering situation that was going to define his existence forever, says OConnor. Gordievsky was served sandwiches and Armenian brandy. Their caution in this matter may have led to the missiles being discovered earlier than the Soviets would have preferred. Posted on . Among the explanations are a desire for money or fame, a ruinous case of alcoholism, or perhaps even psychological scars left by his time in Soviet prison or the shame he felt for publicly turning against British intelligence during the trial. Impossible. We know very well that youve been deceiving us for years, he said. Gordievsky believes they were waiting to catch him contacting British intelligence. They had a sumptuous lunchBokhan knew it might be his last meal with his familyand Maria bought a stuffed Greek doll called a patatuff. The Soviet public was first told of Penkovsky's arrest more than seven weeks later, when Pravda named Wynne and Jacobs[clarification needed] as his contacts, without naming anyone else. The daughter of a Russian mother . The deputy mayor of Bakhmut has spoken of the situation in the city saying there is fighting in the streets. At 4PM on the afternoon of July 19, 1985, Oleg Gordievsky dressed in a thin green sweater, faded green corduroy trousers and old brown shoes clothes he'd selected from the back of the wardrobe. In the morning, they took usmy mother, my grandmother and meand put us in separate black Volgas, Andrei said. He later worked at the Soviet Committee for Scientific Research. The information he provided on the Soviets . In November 1960, Greville Wynne, a 41-year-old British businessman, sat down for a lunch that would change his life. "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" star Rachel Brosnahan portrays CIA-contactEmily Donovan, who helps recruit Wynne in "The Courier." 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. Oleg Penkovsky was a Soviet military intelligence colonel during the late Fifties and early Sixties responsible for informing the UK about the Soviet emplacement of missiles in Cuba, to help build . Privacy Statement "His clothes were sort of shrink-wrapped around this skeleton," says Cumberbatch, who spent three months losing weight and physically preparing to portray Wynne's final months of ordeal. Gordievsky was taken home, but Grushko confronted him at the KGB the next day. Ameeting between theRussian prisoners, in which Wynne tellsPenkovsky of the import of his information, asdepicted in the film, is drama. Leonid never made it to the rock, his son said. Bokhan put them on as Reiser drove to a safe house. Sergei Bokhan was also separated from his family for six years. Released in the same week as The Sun's revelations about an alleged spy known as David Smith who worked in Britain's embassy in Berlin, The Courier tells how the married 41-year-old sales consultant was persuaded by MI6 to deliver secrets from Russian spy Oleg Penkovsky. As the film alludes, life never returned to normal for Wynne, who battled depression and the psychological after-effects of his incarceration. The 23-year-old journalist had been working late for Novosti, the Soviet press agency. Subsequently, a trade was exchanged after the British had a Russian government agent, Konon Molody, under his tutelage. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Penkovsky's story is a tragic and revealing one, and it is regrettable that with it all he did not tell us more of what he could tell best, the story of his own life and of the lives of his close associates.-GEORGE A . He dropped it, sensing that he was getting into dangerous territory. Penkovsky had in the meantime become increasingly disillusioned with the Soviet system, particularly with the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. He worked as a double agent for the British secret service during the Cold War, between 1974 and 1985. Wynne, a British businessman, he offered his services to British intelligence. Penkovsky provided plans and descriptions of the nuclear rocket launch sites in Cuba to the West. Soon there was a plan for an exfiltration, the CIAs term for spiriting an agent in danger out of a foreign country. Everyone avoided me. Penkovsky was portrayed by Christopher Rozycki in the 1985 BBC Television serial Wynne and Penkovsky. Cookie Settings, Liam Daniel, Courtesy of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions, The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall of a Jazz Age Con Man and the Invention of Christmas in New York, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, 5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq, The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars. As soon as Gordievsky landed in Moscow, he picked up signs that he had gambled wrong. In 1961, jet travel did not allow someone to fly from the U.K. to the U.S. and back again in 24 hours, says West. They had to go through a show trial, basically, so on the stand Wynne accused MI6 of using him as a dupehe may have just been saying whatever he could say because he worried they might execute him, says Jeremy Duns, an author of several spy novels set during the Cold War as well as the history book Codename: Hero: The True Story of Oleg Penkovsky and the Cold Wars Most Dangerous Operation. He underwent a debriefing by MI6 and cooperated with it and other Western intelligence services. Andrei was allowed to visit him in prison only once, after he was sentenced to death. Bokhan froze. Why did Wynne make up so much, when the truths of his 18 months as a spy are already filled with astounding details? On September 21, 1985, Howard eluded FBI surveillance and escaped into the New Mexico desert with the help of his wife, Mary, and a pop-up dummy in his cars passenger seat (a technique he had learned in CIA training). You are wondering about the question what happened to oleg penkovsky wife and daughter but currently there is no answer, so let kienthuctudonghoa.com summarize and list the top articles with the question. Penkovsky was in fact arrested by the Soviets on Oct. 22, 1962, at the height of that crisis, after they realized that highly classified information was leaking to the West. He has a net worth estimated to be over $500,000. 276 to 280, "A Spy Story: Sergei Skripal Was a LIttle Fish. Upon release from prison, Wynnes old life was in tattershed lost much of his business and the time spent in the Soviet prison seemed to have caused long-term damage. In his autobiography, Wynne says that he was carefully developed by British intelligence over many years with the specific task of making contact with Penkovsky.[5]. Confess again! the general roared. In all, Penkovsky had provided Western intelligence with about 140 hours of interviews and 111 exposed rolls of film, contributing to some 10,000 pages of intelligence reports. Penkovsky was portrayed by Merab Ninidze in the 2020 British film The Courier, in which Benedict Cumberbatch played Greville Wynne. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Penkovskys information, and Wynnes help in delivering it to British and American intelligence officers, would produce mountains of material, play a role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and land both men in prison. By 1960 he had become a colonel in the GRU and deputy chief of the foreign section of the State Committee for the Coordination of Scientific Research (196062), in which post his task was to collect scientific and technical intelligence on the United States, Britain, and other Western countries. Benedict Cumberbatch is known for bringing outlandish, extraordinary characters, from Marvel's "Dr. Poleshchuk was lured back to his fate.