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Cold War Conversations

Cold War Conversations

The Spy in the KGB Archive (408)

Cold War Conversations · Jun 20, 2025 · 57:44

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The story of how one man—a librarian for the KGB—became a traitor to the intelligence agency, stealing the most prized Soviet-era archives and smuggling them to the West.

Historian and journalist Gordon Corera whose new book “The Spy in the Archive” tells the remarkable story of how Vasili Mitrokhin—an introverted archivist who loved nothing more than dusty archives—ended up changing the world.

As the in-house archivist for the KGB, the secrets he was exposed to inside its walls turned him first into a dissident and then a spy; a traitor to his country but a man determined to expose the truth about the dark forces that had subverted Russia, forces still at work in the country today.



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Deep Cover Cold War Spies: How Russia’s Illegal Agents Penetrated the West https://pod.fo/e/2c6cf5



Portland Spy Ring Part 1 https://pod.fo/e/292bd



Portland Spy Ring Part 2 https://pod.fo/e/4471e



The Bridge of Spies spy https://pod.fo/e/15f244



Discovering your husband is a KGB spy https://pod.fo/e/17a1c4



I was a deep cover KGB spy Part 1 https://pod.fo/e/9c88f



I was a deep cover KGB spy Part 2 https://pod.fo/e/9e0a6





Episode extras ⁠https://coldwarconversations.com/episode408/⁠



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