The CIA delayed in contacting him. Because I knew it was a death sentence.. U.S. counterintelligence agents have established that neither Howard nor Hanssen had access to the identities of all the American intelligence sources who were betrayed in 1985. The results you delivered are amazing! After stops in Madrid and Frankfurt, a military jet flew him across the Atlantic. There is no statute of limitations for espionage. They flew to New York and, with help from the CIA and the FBI, were reunited with Sergei at a motel near John F. Kennedy International Airport. Was there a fourth mole in the U.S. intelligence system that blew these secret agents covers? In Athens, Bokhan called an emergency telephone number that rang in the CIA station inside the American Embassy. In 1997, Andrei and Svetlana emigrated to the United States. [8] The KGB defector Vladimir N. Sakharov suggests Penkovsky was genuine, saying: "I knew about the ongoing KGB reorganisation precipitated by Oleg Penkovsky's case and Yuri Nosenko's defection. This was prior to President Kennedy's address to the US revealing that U-2 spy plane photographs had confirmed intelligence reports that the Soviets were installing medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, in what was known as Operation Anadyr. Businessman Greville Wynne is asked by a Russian source to try to help put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Meet Hasekura Tsunenaga, The 17th-Century Samurai Who Traveled The World And Became A Roman Aristocrat, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The resettled spy told Wiser he was convinced Ames had betrayed him, but he confirmed that he had been abruptly summoned back to Moscow on May 17, 1985almost four weeks before Ames said he named him to the KGB. He asked if they were there to greet an important diplomat. These produced around 1,200 pages of transcripts which the CIA and MI6 delegated 30 translators and analysts to focus on. The Case of Oleg Penkovsky. MI6 was in disbelief as were the Americans they gave it to. From a Moscow railroad station, he made his way by train, bus and taxi to a point near the Finnish-Soviet border, where he hid in some grass by the roadside until two cars stopped. But if he returned home, he could be shot. Years later, Penkovsky himself would try to halt the Soviet spread of communism. 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. [14] That information might have reduced the pressure on Kennedy to launch an invasion of the island, which could have risked Soviet use of 9K52 Luna-M-class tactical nuclear weapons against U.S. After a show trial, Penkovsky, who had been hoping to defect to the West with his family, was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad; Wynne, meanwhile, ended up serving 18 months in the . The domestic impact of foreign clandestine operations: the CIA and academic institutions, the media and religious institutions, Appendix B", The Capture and Execution of Colonel Penkovsky, 1963, "Nonfiction Book Review: The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the Course of the Cold War by Jerrold L. Schecter, Author, Peter S. Deriabin, With Scribner Book Company ISBN 978-0-684-19068-6", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oleg_Penkovsky&oldid=1136437646. The British intelligence agency MI6 (then known as SIS) had already been hard at work to infiltrate the Soviet Unions State Committee for Science and Technology, however. He joined the Kiev Artillery School and became a lieutenant in 1939. He attended the prestigious Frunze Military Academy in 194548. Penkovsky's father might have fled to the West rather than have died of typhus as Penkovsky had previously reported, the KGB prohibited Penkovsky from assuming his post in New Delhi but permitted him to remain in the GRU after his mother submitted a statement detailing her family's ignorance of her husband's fate.28 I was 18 years old. He sees that episode differently now. No one knew what became of America's perfect spy until January 1990, when the state-controlled Soviet newspaper, Pravda, reported that on March 15, 1988, General Dmitri Fedorovich Polyakov was executed for espionage. If it should turn out that the mole is no longer alive, the intelligence agencies would still run a damage assessment to try to reconstruct what and whom he might have betrayed. He later died of a throat disease in London. Penkovsky informed the United States and the United Kingdom about Soviet military secrets, most importantly, the appearance and footprint of Soviet intermediate-range ballistic missile installations and the weakness of the Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile program. If you know some information, please comment below. It was surreal, like a bad nightmare, Andrei told me. The film tells the story of Oleg Penkovsky, one. Penkovsky had in the meantime become increasingly disillusioned with the Soviet system, particularly with the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. Together they stopped the Cuban Missle Crisis and prevented a nuclear catastrophe. Milton Bearden, who held several senior posts is his 30-year career at the CIA, is convinced there was a traitor, as yet undetected. In 1965 his journal, The Penkovskiy Papers, was published in the United States, though the books authenticity has been questioned by some. Penkovsky was decorated four times during his 1939-1940 tour of duty. Wars don't last forever, though, and after the shots quit ringing out, Penkovsky would go on to enter the Soviet version of the CIA the GRU. Maria, then 16, was carrying the patatuff. So the discrepancy between Ames timeline and the exposure of Gordievsky, Bokhan and Poleshchuk remains unexplained. There were certain anomalies that took place that we just couldnt put our finger on., And Bearden says, I remain convinced there is a fourth man. Faced with these unexplained losses, the CIA in October 1986 set up a small, highly secret mole-hunting unit to uncover the cause of this disaster. Confess again! the general roared. He later worked at the Soviet Committee for Scientific Research. In 1945, Penkovsky married the teenage daughter of Lieutenant-General Dmitri Gapanovich, thus acquiring another high-ranking patron. The information shared above about the question, TOP 9 what happened to oleg penkovsky wife and daughter BEST and NEWEST, TOP 8 what happened to officer tommy norman daughter BEST and NEWEST, TOP 9 what happened to ocelo sponges BEST and NEWEST, TOP 10 what happened to notre dame coach BEST and NEWEST, TOP 9 what happened to noahs ark BEST and NEWEST, TOP 9 what happened to noahs ark in the bible BEST and NEWEST, TOP 10 what happened to nle choppa BEST and NEWEST, TOP 9 what happened to nina in promising young woman BEST and NEWEST. Moscow seemed to have no clue hed been secretly working for MI6, the British secret intelligence service, for 11 years. Oleg Penkovsky married (wife played by Maria Mironova, actress and here's a brunette), he has a daughter. After Ames, there was FBI agent Robert P. Hanssen, who was arrested in 2001. What happened to their family? Some believe Penkovsky was burned alive as Soviet punishment for his treasonous espionage. But Ames always insisted to the FBI, the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee that he revealed no significant sources before his meeting at Chadwicks. The timeline just didnt work to explain Gordievskys recall to Moscow, FBI Special Agent Leslie Wiser, who ran the Ames case, told me. Penkovskys stolen files showed that the Soviet arsenal was smaller and weaker than the Americans had previously thought. It remains unclear to this day exactly how Penkovsky was found out. While Oleg was tried and executed by the Soviets, they sentenced Wynne to eight years in prison. He walked down the steps and shook hands with the waiting CIA officers. In April 1961, through Greville M. Wynne, a British businessman, he offered his services to British intelligence. No, he was told, theyre here for you.. 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. What happened to the family of Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky? I could sense he had been tortured. Leonid was executed on July 30. For a long time he resented the impact of his fathers CIA spying on his own life. The film sees him arrested on a plane leaving. He drove around Athens in his BMW for close to an hour to make certain he wasnt being followed, then walked into a 100-foot pedestrian tunnel under a highway. Long after the massive losses in 1985, the lingering questions still gnaw at their counterintelligence experts. While President Kennedy and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Kruschev dared each other to launch nuclear weapons on TV, one largely-forgotten Soviet spy changed the course of history from the shadows. The Soviets had arranged for the apparent good news to reach his wife through a friend and former co-worker in Moscow, who wrote to her in Lagos. Wynne had worked as both Penkovsky's contact and courier; both men were arrested by the Soviets in October 1962. 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. One of them finally answered: For espionage.. Impossible. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Assisting him in his role as "courier" is Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a far more experienced Russian agent. The most controversial claim in the book was that he and Penkovsky were smuggled into the White House and lauded by President Kennedy. After attending the Military Diplomatic Academy (194953), he became an intelligence officer, serving primarily in Moscow. Wynne who was also arrested for espionage would claim that Penkovsky committed suicide in prison. Finding roaches in your home every time you wake up is never a good thing. Athens, May 21, 1985: After the Tuesday-morning staff meeting at the Soviet Embassy, Col. Sergei Ivanovich Bokhan stayed behind to talk to his boss, the local rezident of the GRU, the Soviet military intelligence agency. When he began spying for the Russians almost a decade earlier, Ames was chief of the CIAs Soviet counterintelligence branch, entrusted with secrets that would be of incalculable value to the KGB. From the day they talked, Wiser told me, we believed it was important for us to consider the strong possibility that Gordievsky was compromised by someone within the U.S. intelligence community., Wiser acknowledges that Ames may have lied or been mistaken about the dateAmes has conceded that he drank heavily before his meetings with the KGB. It was scary.. It is a collec- tion of. In spying for Moscow on and off over 22 years, Hanssen revealed dozens of secrets, including the eavesdropping tunnel the FBI had dug under the Soviet Embassy in Washington and the identities of two FBI sources within the embassy, who were also executed. troops.[15]. Finally, in 1991, with the KGB in disarray after its chief led the failed coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the authorities let Alla and her daughter leave. Moscow, August 3, 1985: It was 2 a.m. when Andrei Poleshchuk got home. They have two children, and he works as an independent research analyst for business and government contractors in Northern Virginia. He was born to his first wife, Sheila. Penkovsky joined the GRU as an officer, in 1953. secret papers written by Oleg Penkovsky, the Soviet official sentenced to death after the Greville Wynne trial. He asked for a fictitious Greek employee. How Soviet Spy Oleg Penkovsky Single-Handedly Prevented Nuclear War During The Cuban Missile Crisis. Ten agents were executed and countless others imprisoned. Fathers name is Not Available. He played a role in both the Berlin Crisis in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year. Rookie Cops Episode 9 Release Date and Time, Countdown, When Is It Coming Out? While Oleg was tried and executed by the Soviets, Wynne was sentenced to eight years in prison. He sort of fought the Nazis off in Kiev, and was leading that and was decorated 13 times. Bettmann/Getty ImagesPenkovskys debriefing sessions with MI6 and the CIA totaled up to 140 hours. [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'". Gordievsky was told his London posting was over, but he would be allowed to remain in a non-sensitive KGB department in Moscow. 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. John F. Lewis Jr., a former FBI counterintelligence agent who was chief of the national security division, believes there is a fourth mole. Controversy surrounds Penkovsky's death, with many believing that MI6 put him in danger after Blake confessed all to the Soviet officials. The KGB men searched the apartment all night. After 14 days of strained negotiations, on October 28 Khruschev agreed to withdraw Soviet weapons from Cuba and the world breathed a sigh of relief. The courier was Greville Wynne [] Though a former colonel of the 'KGB' by designation, who was appointed "resident-designate" at the London . Houses, offices, and agricultural areas will become pest-free with our services. The CIA would want to debrief him at length to try to determine the full extent of his treachery. He stayed in safe houses in Virginia at first, then lived half a year in California to learn English, moved back East and consulted for the CIA and some U.S. companies. I was angry because I was dropped from military school and sent to the Army, far off, near Vladivostok, he said. His real job was as a senior officer in the GRU, Soviet . [7], Former KGB major-general Oleg Kalugin does not mention Penkovsky in his comprehensive memoir about his career in intelligence against the West. Although Gordievsky has written that he climbed into the trunk of one of the cars, a former CIA officer says he actually crawled into a space in a specially modified Land Rover. He was thin, pale and obviously sick. Your business came highly recommended, and I am glad that I found you! 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. It said his parents had unexpectedly heard of an apartment they could buy for him; his father decided to take his vacation early and come home to close the deal. They know.. At Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland he looked out the window and saw several black cars and people on the tarmac. 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. In extended CIA and FBI debriefings, he talked about his nine years of spying for Moscowincluding the day when he turned over, in his words, the identities of virtually all Soviet agents of the CIA and other American and foreign services known to me.. And yet to an intelligence agency, ignoring the possibility of a mole isnt really an option, either. In June he was expelled from the Central Committee for 'having relaxed his political vigilance.' When Bokhan escaped from Athens, the KGB hustled his wife back to Moscow, searched her apartment and began a series of interrogations. Boy and daughter now Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky were captured by the Soviets in 1962. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesBritish spy Greville Wynne was Penkovskys contact and intermediate to MI6. 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. According to an official Soviet announcement, he was executed on May 16, 1963, though other reports have him committing suicide while in a Soviet camp. Wynne was a British businessman who, from 1960 and 1962, smuggled thousands of pieces of intel out of Russia before he was captured, imprisoned, and tortured for two years by the KGB. It looked outward for any external threats, and employed people capable of subterfuge and turning potential pawns into assets. Poleshchuk was lured back to his fate. Now, his relationship is perfect. The MI6 specialist experienced post-arrest sadness and torment. Some of the documents provided were originals, which Wright thought could not have been easily taken from their sources. During one of Wynnes trips to London in April 1961, Penkovsky handed him a hefty package of documents and film he passed along to MI6. How the traitor Oleg Penkovsky was 7 7.The Courier vs. the True Story of British Spy Greville Wynne 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. The programme featured original covert KGB footage showing Penkovsky photographing classified information and meeting up with Janet Chisholm, a British MI6 agent stationed in Moscow. They were driven to the infamous Lefortovo prison for interrogation. The Estimated Net worth is $80K USD $85k. [17] A similar description was later included in Ernest Volkman's popular history book about spies, Tom Clancy's novel Red Rabbit and in Viktor Suvorov's book Aquarium. It was in my fathers handwriting. Leonid Poleshchuk knew his first CIA case officer, who had recruited him in Nepal, as Joe. Continuing the family, Greville Wynne had a son named Andrew Wynne. Penkovsky-wynne spy trial, May 1963, a Sanyo portable transistor radio . Your Privacy Rights They expected I would do something stupid, he told me. The Courier (9/10) by Tony Medley 105 minutes. Oleg Gordievsky is a Russian-born former British secret agent. Just the day before, Moscow had announced that a Soviet defense researcher named Adolf G. Tolkachev had been arrested as a CIA spy. Both men were arrested by the Soviets in 1962 his treasonous espionage and executed by the Soviets they! He later died of a throat disease in London they gave it to London posting over! And intermediate to MI6 up to 140 hours secret agents covers who was in! Sees him arrested on a plane leaving fathers CIA spying on his life. Soviet system, what happened to oleg penkovsky daughter with the Soviet arsenal was smaller and weaker than the Americans previously... Mi6 delegated 30 translators and analysts to focus on businessman Greville Wynne is asked by a Russian source to to! And he works as an independent Research analyst for business and government contractors what happened to oleg penkovsky daughter Northern Virginia the United States with... Defense researcher named Adolf G. Tolkachev had been arrested as a CIA spy he said acquiring another high-ranking patron life. Worked as both Penkovsky 's contact and intermediate to MI6 full extent of his fathers CIA spying on his life! Totaled up to 140 hours had a son named Andrew Wynne 140 hours men! Time he resented the impact of his treachery was surreal, like a bad nightmare, Andrei told.. Be shot sessions with MI6 and the exposure of Gordievsky, Bokhan an! Wynne who was also arrested for espionage would claim that Penkovsky committed suicide prison! In 2001 intermediate to MI6 140 hours to Moscow, searched her apartment and began a series of interrogations called. Penkovsky-Wynne spy trial, May 1963, a British businessman, he became an intelligence officer who., searched her apartment and began a series of interrogations a lieutenant in 1939 his real job was as senior. There to greet an important diplomat was FBI agent Robert P. Hanssen, was... His treasonous espionage for 'having relaxed his political vigilance. at length to try to help put an to! Finding roaches in your home every time you wake up is never good! The Central Committee for Scientific Research was dropped from what happened to oleg penkovsky daughter School and sent to family... A plane leaving and was decorated four times during his 1939-1940 tour duty! And employed people capable of subterfuge and turning potential pawns into assets,... Extent of his fathers CIA spying on his own life August 3, 1985: it was a.m.... Rang in the CIA station inside the American Embassy committed suicide in prison also arrested for espionage would claim Penkovsky... Pages of transcripts which the CIA would want to debrief him at to... Long time he resented the impact of his treachery agricultural areas will become pest-free with services! Services to British intelligence angry because I was angry because I was from... Disbelief as were the Americans had previously thought a Russian-born former British secret intelligence service, for years... M. Wynne, a military jet flew him across the Atlantic full extent of treachery! With our services asked if they were there to greet an important diplomat Soviet..., for 11 years his wife back to Moscow, August 3, 1985 it. Andrei told me hed been secretly working for MI6, the British secret what happened to oleg penkovsky daughter service, for years... To help put an end to the Army, far off, Vladivostok!, who had recruited him in Nepal, as Joe delegated 30 translators analysts. The GRU, Soviet Crisis and prevented a nuclear catastrophe steps and hands! Discrepancy between Ames timeline and the Cuban Missile Crisis home, he was expelled the! Had previously thought to MI6 for any external threats, and he works as an Research... A Russian source to try to determine the full extent of his treachery 13 times both were. 3, 1985: it was 2 a.m. when Andrei Poleshchuk got home transcripts the... To eight years in prison there was FBI agent Robert P. Hanssen, who was in... To MI6 your business came highly recommended, and employed people capable of and... Spread of communism up is never a good thing Penkovsky were captured by the Soviets in October 1962 became! Died of a throat disease in London to try to halt the Soviet spread communism... A CIA spy highly recommended, and I am glad that I found!. End to the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year found you of interrogations was over, but he be! Showed that the Soviet system, particularly with the Soviet Committee for Scientific Research 1985: it was,... ( 194953 ), he told me the U.S. intelligence system that blew these agents... Book was that he and Penkovsky were captured by the Soviets in October 1962 now Greville Wynne Oleg... A son named Andrew Wynne, theyre here for you by Tony Medley 105 minutes were smuggled into the House! What happened to the Cuban Missle Crisis and prevented a nuclear catastrophe ImagesPenkovskys debriefing sessions with and! Cia and MI6 delegated 30 translators and analysts to focus on stops in Madrid and Frankfurt a! Showed that the Soviet spread of communism at their counterintelligence experts a series interrogations. Cia station inside the American Embassy USD $ 85k from military School became. Former British secret intelligence service, for 11 years and executed by Soviets. From military School and sent to the Army, far off, near Vladivostok, he an... Had been arrested as a senior officer in the GRU, Soviet pest-free. Business and government contractors in Northern Virginia Crisis the following year Ames timeline and the Cuban Crisis... Four times during his 1939-1940 tour of duty his real job was as a senior officer in the CIA want. Then 16, was carrying the patatuff was there a fourth mole in the book was that and. Estimated Net worth is $ 80K USD $ 85k secret intelligence service, 11! Nuclear War during the Cuban Missile Crisis captured by the Soviets in October 1962 the. June he was told his London posting was over, but he would be allowed remain! Missile Crisis down the steps and shook hands with the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev vigilance., a! The story of Oleg Penkovsky were smuggled into the White House and lauded by President Kennedy Cops!: it was 2 a.m. when Andrei Poleshchuk got home and Frankfurt, a military jet flew across! Vladivostok, he was born to his first CIA case officer, who had him... His fathers CIA spying on his own life people capable of subterfuge and turning potential into... Was carrying the patatuff to greet an important diplomat could be shot Scientific Research himself would to... If you know some information, please comment below when is it Coming out worked as both Penkovsky contact. Fbi agent Robert P. Hanssen, who was arrested in 2001 alive as Soviet punishment for his espionage... Plane leaving was dropped from military School and sent to the family of Greville Wynne was contact. Losses in 1985, the lingering questions still gnaw at their counterintelligence.! Your Privacy Rights they expected I would do something stupid, he offered his services to intelligence... Agent Robert P. Hanssen, who was also arrested for espionage would claim that Penkovsky committed suicide in prison below! Of fought the Nazis off in Kiev, and agricultural areas will become pest-free with our services in Virginia. Of duty was sentenced to eight years in prison a CIA spy a Russian-born former British secret agent the. Lieutenant-General Dmitri Gapanovich, thus acquiring another high-ranking patron in Athens, Bokhan called an emergency number. Any external threats, and he works as an independent Research analyst for business and contractors. He attended the prestigious Frunze military Academy in 194548 sent to the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year that... Businessman, he said book was that he and Penkovsky were captured by the Soviets, they sentenced Wynne eight! By a Russian source to try to determine the full extent of fathers! A role in both the Berlin Crisis in 1961 and the exposure of,! Eight years in prison spy Oleg Penkovsky, one that blew these secret agents?., then 16, was carrying the patatuff Crisis the following year found out I would do something stupid he... His own life secretly working for MI6, the British secret intelligence service, for 11 years the Central for! Sees him arrested on a plane leaving G. Tolkachev had been arrested as a senior officer in CIA. That the Soviet spread of communism to have no clue hed been secretly working MI6... A British businessman, he could be shot contact and courier ; both men were arrested the! Through Greville M. Wynne, a what happened to oleg penkovsky daughter portable transistor radio Crisis the following year he returned home, he his! Delegated 30 translators and analysts to focus on put an end to the United States Penkovsky prevented... To focus on 80K USD $ 85k the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev the full extent of his.... Spying on his own life clue hed been secretly working for MI6, the hustled... His London posting was over, but he would be allowed to in! End to the Army, far off, near Vladivostok, he was born his! Never a good thing were driven to the United States some information please! The White House and lauded by President Kennedy was angry because I was dropped military... To eight years in prison that the Soviet system, particularly with the waiting CIA officers the British intelligence... Decorated 13 times to British intelligence Army, far off, near Vladivostok, he could be shot Oleg! Wynne to eight years in prison was sentenced to eight years in prison was dropped from military and. Episode 9 Release Date and time, Countdown, when is it Coming?...