Oleg Gordievsky is a Russian-born former British secret agent. He is known as one of the greatest spies in the world. He worked as a double agent for the British secret service during the Cold War, between 1974 and 1985. Though a former colonel of the ‘KGB’ by designation, who was appointed “resident-designate” at the London “rezidentura” (‘KGB’ station inside an embassy), his real identity is that of “the greatest spy” ‘MI6’ ever recruited. He was also the most high-ranking officer that England could ever approach and turn. He is credited with averting a probable nuclear war by sharing Kremlin’s secret plans and helping the West with intelligence that was crucial to the fall of the USSR. It is still not clear whether he was betrayed by his own people or the Russians, but this British spy almost lost his life in the process. Years later, he revealed names of the British leaders who had provided information to Moscow, undermining the efforts to quash communism. Gordievsky later defected from Russia and was rescued by the ‘MI6.’ He is now a writer, a political commentator, and a public figure in the UK.
