Talk:Oleg Gordievsky

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Gordievsky's Exfiltration This is a description of Gordievsky's Exfiltration from memory of "SpyTek" by Discovery Channel (Possibly before being owned by Bell Globalmedia) (2 VHS cassettes). I believe the show said that he first signaled for his exfiltration by holding a plastic bag in a certain corner. British intelligence and Gordievsky has previous established the signal in case he was called back. He then followed his jogging routine, and when he's hidden from view of the guards, doubled back, confused them, and was able to escape. The reenactment shows Gordievsky jogged into a tunnel, doubled back. He may have changed his clothing when hidden from view. He boarded a train (perhaps to Finland), then was picked up on a road. He was put into the back of the trunk, with a special thermo blanket that would prevent boarder guards with IR systems from easily detecting the person at the back of the trunk. In a different show, it may have mentioned that the boarder also had a guard dog, and they were about to detect Gordievsky when the British female operative drop a sandwich in front of the dog, distracting the dog long enough for the car to pass.

None of this is confirmed, given the nature of the material.

Is the story of how we reached Finland correct? I heard that he entered the boot in Moscow. He certainly didn't just get on a train to the Finnish border - that's missing a large piece of relevant information.

This interview with Gordievsky in Time Out essentially corroborates the escape as mentioned in the article, and some of the extra detail mentioned above: he signalled his intention to MI6 using a plastic Safeway bag in July 1985. He doubled back to lose his KGB tails and then caught a train to the Finnish border, then was smuggled into Finland by British agents.

What does seem to be inconsistent is that Urban says "Gordievsky left his wife and children to go jogging". According to Time Out, they were on holiday in Azerbaijan when he defected. I'll rewrite that part. --Canley 14:24, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tom Clancy inspiration?

Is this the guy reported to be the inspiration of the character in Tom Clancy's book "The Cardinal of the Kremlin"?Jlujan69 23:34, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Doubtful; that character was an Army tanker veteran of the WWII Battle of Stalingrad, and was an american agent (in Moscow, reporting on Soviet activities to the USA), not a double agent (in London, reporting disinformation to the USSR). The article on The Cardinal of the Kremlin suggests a possible inspiration by Ryszard Kukliński. 71.41.210.146 (talk) 09:10, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Poisoned

Police probe 'new KGB poison attack' as defector Gordievsky is found unconscious in Surrey home, Daily Mail, 6th April 2008 --84.234.60.154 (talk) 20:49, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Unconscious for 38 hours, in intensive hostipal care for 18 days, fingers still numb. He said poisoning was done by the same ruffians who took out Mr. Litvinenko. 82.131.210.162 (talk) 14:58, 7 April 2008 (UTC)