How a Double Agent Effectively Prevented World War III

One of the Most Influential Spies in History

By the end of the ‘90s, Gordievsky, who was a senior officer in the KGB, crossed over to the UK and became the most senior Russian spy at MI6, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. For more than a decade, Gordievsky passed on valuable secrets and intelligence information from the core of the Soviet agency he served in to his British handlers.

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Oleg Gordievsky when he was a student. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Considering his direct access to top-secret information, he quickly became one of the most influential spies in history. The sheer amount of information he provided to the British at a major historical moment changed the path of the Cold War. He ultimately helped avert a nuclear war, uncovered Soviet spy rings in Britain, and provided the British and the West with a look into the mood of Moscow’s Kremlin.

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