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O Espião no Arquivo: O homem que tentou destruir o KGB
Da obscuridade à traição, um homem mudou as regras do jogo ao expor os ficheiros mais secretos alguma vez conhecidos. Como se rouba uma biblioteca? Não é uma biblioteca qualquer, mas o arquivo mais secreto do mundo. A resposta é: sendo bibliotecário. Mantendo-se tão quieto que ninguém sabe o que se está a fazer enquanto se vai trabalhando de forma discreta ao longo de décadas. Tão discreta que, mesmo depois da fuga, com o auxílio do MI6 - o Serviço Secreto de Inteligência britânico no estrangeiro -, ninguém se apercebe de que o bibliotecário se foi embora.
O Espião no Arquivo é a história sensacional de como Vasili Mitrokhin - um arquivista introvertido que não amava mais nada para além dos arquivos empoeirados - acabou por mudar o mundo. Como bibliotecário do KGB, os segredos a que foi exposto nas salas dos arquivos transformaram-no: primeiro, num dissidente, e, depois, num espião. Um homem determinado a expor a verdade sobre as forças obscuras que subverteram a Rússia, forças que ainda hoje estão em ação no país. Esta é a história da viagem de um homem desde o coração do Estado soviético até à desilusão, à traição e à sua determinação em enfrentar a instituição mais poderosa do mundo.
O Espião no Arquivo é a história sensacional de como Vasili Mitrokhin - um arquivista introvertido que não amava mais nada para além dos arquivos empoeirados - acabou por mudar o mundo. Como bibliotecário do KGB, os segredos a que foi exposto nas salas dos arquivos transformaram-no: primeiro, num dissidente, e, depois, num espião. Um homem determinado a expor a verdade sobre as forças obscuras que subverteram a Rússia, forças que ainda hoje estão em ação no país. Esta é a história da viagem de um homem desde o coração do Estado soviético até à desilusão, à traição e à sua determinação em enfrentar a instituição mais poderosa do mundo.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2025
About the author
Gordon Corera
17 books167 followersGordon Corera is a British journalist. He is the Security Correspondent for the BBC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
January 9, 2026
Beware the librarian. Or more accurately, beware the Russian archivist in Gordon Corera's The Spy in the Archive. He might write everything down. Literally.
Vasili Mitrokhin worked for the KGB. He wasn't very good at the field activities and ended up banished to the archives. What kind of damage can anyone do there, right? Well, Mitrokhin read about all the horrible things his employers did and decided to tell the world about it. A few problems. Who was he going to tell, how could he avoid getting caught, and what was he going to tell his family when it was time to get out of dodge?
The story is a homerun. Corera does a very good job adding specifics whenever he can and tell the larger story of the evolution and dissolution of the USSR. I know some reviews question the overall impact of Mitrokhin's work when it is all said and done. This is a totally valid criticism as there is not a huge catharsis by the end. However, I think the journey is what drew me in, and I felt that showing the terror the KGB unleashed (and is still unleashing under a new name) is worth your time.
I do think Corera probably draws out the story a bit too much. It's only 270ish pages but could have cut about 50 pages to make this a bit more impactful. It mostly has to do with the author trying to add an air of mystery early in the book. A more straightforward telling would have kept the narrative moving faster but it's a minor nitpick. This is still a good time.
(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by Pegasus Books. All opinions are my own, comrade.)
Vasili Mitrokhin worked for the KGB. He wasn't very good at the field activities and ended up banished to the archives. What kind of damage can anyone do there, right? Well, Mitrokhin read about all the horrible things his employers did and decided to tell the world about it. A few problems. Who was he going to tell, how could he avoid getting caught, and what was he going to tell his family when it was time to get out of dodge?
The story is a homerun. Corera does a very good job adding specifics whenever he can and tell the larger story of the evolution and dissolution of the USSR. I know some reviews question the overall impact of Mitrokhin's work when it is all said and done. This is a totally valid criticism as there is not a huge catharsis by the end. However, I think the journey is what drew me in, and I felt that showing the terror the KGB unleashed (and is still unleashing under a new name) is worth your time.
I do think Corera probably draws out the story a bit too much. It's only 270ish pages but could have cut about 50 pages to make this a bit more impactful. It mostly has to do with the author trying to add an air of mystery early in the book. A more straightforward telling would have kept the narrative moving faster but it's a minor nitpick. This is still a good time.
(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by Pegasus Books. All opinions are my own, comrade.)
February 20, 2026
Interesting story and easy read. 50% story of a spy in the KGB archives, 50% general history of political climate and other happenings in Russia at the time - which I found informative, but not as gripping as other spy books I have read recently.
July 6, 2025
There have been some titles already published by former archivist (who had become disillusioned with the organization after his librarian job exposed him to hard evidence exposing the corruption in his country):
The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB
The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB & the Battle for the Third World
However, this title is the story about Vasili Mitrokhin himself: a quiet, unassuming man who decided to paint the bullseye on what he saw as the main target that contaminated his loved country: the beast known as the KGB.
Corera does a good job providing an engaging flow in his narrative; this book reads like a James Patterson novel: short chapters that are always leaving mini-cliffhangers for the next one.
The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB
The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB & the Battle for the Third World
However, this title is the story about Vasili Mitrokhin himself: a quiet, unassuming man who decided to paint the bullseye on what he saw as the main target that contaminated his loved country: the beast known as the KGB.
Corera does a good job providing an engaging flow in his narrative; this book reads like a James Patterson novel: short chapters that are always leaving mini-cliffhangers for the next one.
February 2, 2026
Hovering between 3 and 4 but will keep it here for now. This was a really interesting topic but it could have been tighter. With a true story with some seemingly incredulous plot points I was gripped, however some of the longer explanations and filler made me lose interest. The story is exciting enough that it was a shame that the presentation watered it down.
February 26, 2026
4.5?
Just stumbled on this book and loved it. Been fascinated by the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990’s and this easy to read book answered many questions for me.
Just stumbled on this book and loved it. Been fascinated by the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990’s and this easy to read book answered many questions for me.
February 16, 2026
This was an interesting story of an archivist in the KGB who wrote everything down and then used it against them. Vasili Mitrokhin was stuck in the archives when it turns out, he's not that great in the field. While performing his archiving duties, he realizes he might be a part of the baddies. He decides he wants the world to know what his country and himself have been doing all this time, but knows he can't sneak stuff out, especially in the quantities he wants to. The story does a good job of explaining how it was done and the stress of what happens after he decides to act on getting the information out.
May 19, 2026
A failure of a KGB agent spends his life plotting his revenge. Talk about taking copious notes. He was the fox guarding the hen house. A difficult man who didn't quite get what he wanted. A fascinating story bordering on the unbelievable-photographic memory HOF for Ripley's.
February 20, 2026
4.2 stars
July 21, 2026
Fantastic read. Anyone who has read any of Mitrokhin's books will love the context provided here.
July 1, 2026
His bosses never suspected this failed spy could nearly destroy the KGB
Since early in the 19th century, the men who rule Russia have relied on secret intelligence to preserve their hold on power. Tsar Nicholas I started it all in 1826. The Third Section, which he founded then, grew and morphed over the years, changing names and broadening its mission. But for most of us in the West today, we’re familiar only with the KGB, which operated from 1954 to 1991. During the long, tense years of the Cold War, the KGB was responsible for Russia’s internal security, foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence, and suppressing political opposition. And much of what we know about its operations is down to one man. Vasili Mitrokhin (1922-2004) carried with him suitcases full of information about the agency when he defected to the United Kingdom in 1992. British author Gordon Corera tells his little-remembered story in The Spy in the Archive.
A promising agent turned bitter failure
Earlier in life, Mitrokhin was a promising field agent posted to East Germany. But his bosses regarded him as a failure. They relegated him to what was literally the basement of the Lubyanka to help manage the voluminous archive of the First Chief Directorate. This was the elite unit responsible for foreign operations, intelligence gathering, and clandestine activities outside the USSR. Unlike the other librarians working there, Mitrokhin read the files. And what he learned of the agency’s role in the murder of millions of Soviet citizens eventually turned him bitter. After Nikita Khruschchev’s “Secret Speech” in 1956, he began copying the most revealing of those files. That was the treasure trove of KGB history he brought to the West.
Mitrokhin’s unique gift to the West
Other defectors from the KGB and its military counterpart, the GRU, brought active, current information about their colleagues. Mitrokhin retired in 1985, so when he defected to Britain in 1992, his information was largely out of date. But it was history, much of it unknown outside the USSR. And, more importantly, it included the names and detailed information about hundreds of KGB officers and agents and their contacts throughout the world. Included among them were dozens of “sleeper agents,” a number of whom had served as Soviet moles in the British, American, French, German, Dutch, and other Western intelligence services. The information about them cleared up decades-long mysteries and led to the arrest or sidelining of hitherto undiscovered Russian operatives.
How Russia’s secret services evolved over the years
Reading books about Soviet and Russian secret intelligence can be confusing for American readers. It helps to understand how the names and functions of the country’s secret services have changed over the years. Hence, the summary that follows.
Tsar Nicholas I’s Third Section monitored political subversion during much of the 19th century. But Russian intelligence didn’t come into its own until his grandson, Alexander III, established the Okhrana in 1881. Anarchists and other revolutionaries were running rampant then. The Okhrana pioneered the use of agents provocateurs, infiltration, and an extensive card file on dissidents. But a liberal government dissolved it during the 1917 February Revolution.
Under the Soviet Union
Later in 1917, after the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin set up the Cheka. To neutralize political opponents, the new agency (which employed many from the old Okhrana) spearheaded the “Red Terror.” It’s still widely viewed as the ideological predecessor to modern Russian intelligence officers, who refer to themselves as Chekists.
Over the decades, first Lenin, then Stalin, reorganized the agency multiple times. It bore different acronyms, including the GPU (1922-23), OGPU (1923-34), NKVD (1934-46), MVD (1946-54), and finally the KGB (1954-91).
The most notorious of the lot was the NKVD. Stalin used it to carry out his Great Purges (1936-38) and run the Gulag system. But the KGB, its successor, oversaw foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, border control, and the suppression of domestic dissent throughout the Cold War.
After the collapse of Communism
Following a failed 1991 coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, the KGB was dismantled. Yeltsin formed three specialized, independent agencies to maintain the legacy of Soviet intelligence:
** The FSB (Federal Security Service) is the primary domestic successor to the KGB. It handles counterintelligence, internal security, border control, and surveillance within the Russian Federation.
** The SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) is the successor to the KGB’s First Chief Directorate (where Mitrokhin worked). The SVR is responsible for civilian espionage, intelligence gathering, and political operations outside of Russia.
** The GRU (Main Directorate of the General Staff) is Russia’s military intelligence agency. Tracing its roots back to 1918, the GRU is responsible for collecting human and technical military intelligence and has played a prominent role in modern unconventional and proxy warfare. The GRU and SVR compete fiercely, jockeying for Vladirmir Putin’s attention.
About the author
Gordon Corera, an author and journalist, was the BBC’s Security Correspondent and specialized in computer technology from 2004 to November 2024. He is the author of five nonfiction books on related subjects. Corera was born in London in 1974 to a father from the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India and a German mother. He studied Modern History at St Peter’s College at the University of Oxford, followed by graduate studies in US foreign policy at Harvard University.
Since early in the 19th century, the men who rule Russia have relied on secret intelligence to preserve their hold on power. Tsar Nicholas I started it all in 1826. The Third Section, which he founded then, grew and morphed over the years, changing names and broadening its mission. But for most of us in the West today, we’re familiar only with the KGB, which operated from 1954 to 1991. During the long, tense years of the Cold War, the KGB was responsible for Russia’s internal security, foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence, and suppressing political opposition. And much of what we know about its operations is down to one man. Vasili Mitrokhin (1922-2004) carried with him suitcases full of information about the agency when he defected to the United Kingdom in 1992. British author Gordon Corera tells his little-remembered story in The Spy in the Archive.
A promising agent turned bitter failure
Earlier in life, Mitrokhin was a promising field agent posted to East Germany. But his bosses regarded him as a failure. They relegated him to what was literally the basement of the Lubyanka to help manage the voluminous archive of the First Chief Directorate. This was the elite unit responsible for foreign operations, intelligence gathering, and clandestine activities outside the USSR. Unlike the other librarians working there, Mitrokhin read the files. And what he learned of the agency’s role in the murder of millions of Soviet citizens eventually turned him bitter. After Nikita Khruschchev’s “Secret Speech” in 1956, he began copying the most revealing of those files. That was the treasure trove of KGB history he brought to the West.
Mitrokhin’s unique gift to the West
Other defectors from the KGB and its military counterpart, the GRU, brought active, current information about their colleagues. Mitrokhin retired in 1985, so when he defected to Britain in 1992, his information was largely out of date. But it was history, much of it unknown outside the USSR. And, more importantly, it included the names and detailed information about hundreds of KGB officers and agents and their contacts throughout the world. Included among them were dozens of “sleeper agents,” a number of whom had served as Soviet moles in the British, American, French, German, Dutch, and other Western intelligence services. The information about them cleared up decades-long mysteries and led to the arrest or sidelining of hitherto undiscovered Russian operatives.
How Russia’s secret services evolved over the years
Reading books about Soviet and Russian secret intelligence can be confusing for American readers. It helps to understand how the names and functions of the country’s secret services have changed over the years. Hence, the summary that follows.
Tsar Nicholas I’s Third Section monitored political subversion during much of the 19th century. But Russian intelligence didn’t come into its own until his grandson, Alexander III, established the Okhrana in 1881. Anarchists and other revolutionaries were running rampant then. The Okhrana pioneered the use of agents provocateurs, infiltration, and an extensive card file on dissidents. But a liberal government dissolved it during the 1917 February Revolution.
Under the Soviet Union
Later in 1917, after the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin set up the Cheka. To neutralize political opponents, the new agency (which employed many from the old Okhrana) spearheaded the “Red Terror.” It’s still widely viewed as the ideological predecessor to modern Russian intelligence officers, who refer to themselves as Chekists.
Over the decades, first Lenin, then Stalin, reorganized the agency multiple times. It bore different acronyms, including the GPU (1922-23), OGPU (1923-34), NKVD (1934-46), MVD (1946-54), and finally the KGB (1954-91).
The most notorious of the lot was the NKVD. Stalin used it to carry out his Great Purges (1936-38) and run the Gulag system. But the KGB, its successor, oversaw foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, border control, and the suppression of domestic dissent throughout the Cold War.
After the collapse of Communism
Following a failed 1991 coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, the KGB was dismantled. Yeltsin formed three specialized, independent agencies to maintain the legacy of Soviet intelligence:
** The FSB (Federal Security Service) is the primary domestic successor to the KGB. It handles counterintelligence, internal security, border control, and surveillance within the Russian Federation.
** The SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) is the successor to the KGB’s First Chief Directorate (where Mitrokhin worked). The SVR is responsible for civilian espionage, intelligence gathering, and political operations outside of Russia.
** The GRU (Main Directorate of the General Staff) is Russia’s military intelligence agency. Tracing its roots back to 1918, the GRU is responsible for collecting human and technical military intelligence and has played a prominent role in modern unconventional and proxy warfare. The GRU and SVR compete fiercely, jockeying for Vladirmir Putin’s attention.
About the author
Gordon Corera, an author and journalist, was the BBC’s Security Correspondent and specialized in computer technology from 2004 to November 2024. He is the author of five nonfiction books on related subjects. Corera was born in London in 1974 to a father from the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India and a German mother. He studied Modern History at St Peter’s College at the University of Oxford, followed by graduate studies in US foreign policy at Harvard University.
October 27, 2025
Interesting but a bit slow
July 31, 2026
‘What does it take to resist? The system had been structured to isolate individuals and stop them trusting anyone else – even their closest friend could be an informer. To take the step out of this mental prison and into the risky world of dissent required believing you were not alone. These dissidents were trying to get their message out. And they would be Mitrokhin’s inspiration as he sat abroad.’
In recent years, the concept of the truth has become fiercy contested, misconstrued, debated and even negated as ‘worthless’. ‘A Spy In The Archives’ by security journalist Gordon Corera details the journey of Russian defector Vasili Mitrokhin’s search of the truth that lay within the archives. I have been aware of security correspondent Gordon Corera through his podcast with David McCloskey ‘The Rest Is Classified’ for a few years now. This is a remarkable story of unearthing, as well as teaching a valuable lesson on the value of documentation.
The story of former KGB archivist turned informant Mitrokhin reads like a spy caper within a historical record. Mitrokhin’s introverted and halting manner bleeds into the story, as his motivations for defection and sabotage are gradually revealed. Whilst detailing his ingenous ‘theft’ of a large portion of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB which dealts with foreign affairs and operations. ‘The Spy in the Archive’ is a well-researched and thorough book, from which I learned much about intelligence services, covert missions and the intrigue of the Cold War by those who lived through it. Where Corera shines is brightest is when he considers the political warfare over ideology, art and propaganda. In particular the import and impact of the works of Alexander Solzhetzyn and Mikhail Bulgakov, showcase the alternate battlefield(s) for the hearts, minds and conscience of the people.
While consistently informative and illuminating, Corera’s point of view falls into the trap of the simplistic view: Bad Soviet Union & KGB vs Good West & MI6/CIA.
The oppressive and repressive atmosphere within the Soviet Union is palpable, this sentiment is repeated to the point of pedantry such that the narrative lulls. ‘The Beast’ a three-headed hydra that Mitrokhin views as corroding the Russian people and society, certainly has its own equivalents in the West. The inability to acknowledge the inherent corrosive nature that infected the security apparatus of both sides, falls into the all too familiar idealogical trope. This left me feeling sceptical. I believe in a book of this length, it would have well been within the author’s remit to at the very least, acknowledge the hypocrisy of Western security agencies who likewise sponsored covert foreign missions such as coups, assassinations and the overthrow of democratically elected leaders. This is not a ‘both sides’ counter-argument, but an observation from a reader that asks ‘Was the side Mitrokhin relied on to expose the truly a bastion of freedom?’
The book picked up for me in the last third, with Mitrokhin’s prescient warning that the spirit of Chekists had not entirely been expunged with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. It merely metamorphosed into the Putin-era, whose rise to prominence Corera takes time to cover.
Ultimately, Corera does a good job of humanising and localising the grandiose history.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars
Reviewer copy accessed via NetGalley.
In recent years, the concept of the truth has become fiercy contested, misconstrued, debated and even negated as ‘worthless’. ‘A Spy In The Archives’ by security journalist Gordon Corera details the journey of Russian defector Vasili Mitrokhin’s search of the truth that lay within the archives. I have been aware of security correspondent Gordon Corera through his podcast with David McCloskey ‘The Rest Is Classified’ for a few years now. This is a remarkable story of unearthing, as well as teaching a valuable lesson on the value of documentation.
The story of former KGB archivist turned informant Mitrokhin reads like a spy caper within a historical record. Mitrokhin’s introverted and halting manner bleeds into the story, as his motivations for defection and sabotage are gradually revealed. Whilst detailing his ingenous ‘theft’ of a large portion of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB which dealts with foreign affairs and operations. ‘The Spy in the Archive’ is a well-researched and thorough book, from which I learned much about intelligence services, covert missions and the intrigue of the Cold War by those who lived through it. Where Corera shines is brightest is when he considers the political warfare over ideology, art and propaganda. In particular the import and impact of the works of Alexander Solzhetzyn and Mikhail Bulgakov, showcase the alternate battlefield(s) for the hearts, minds and conscience of the people.
While consistently informative and illuminating, Corera’s point of view falls into the trap of the simplistic view: Bad Soviet Union & KGB vs Good West & MI6/CIA.
The oppressive and repressive atmosphere within the Soviet Union is palpable, this sentiment is repeated to the point of pedantry such that the narrative lulls. ‘The Beast’ a three-headed hydra that Mitrokhin views as corroding the Russian people and society, certainly has its own equivalents in the West. The inability to acknowledge the inherent corrosive nature that infected the security apparatus of both sides, falls into the all too familiar idealogical trope. This left me feeling sceptical. I believe in a book of this length, it would have well been within the author’s remit to at the very least, acknowledge the hypocrisy of Western security agencies who likewise sponsored covert foreign missions such as coups, assassinations and the overthrow of democratically elected leaders. This is not a ‘both sides’ counter-argument, but an observation from a reader that asks ‘Was the side Mitrokhin relied on to expose the truly a bastion of freedom?’
The book picked up for me in the last third, with Mitrokhin’s prescient warning that the spirit of Chekists had not entirely been expunged with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. It merely metamorphosed into the Putin-era, whose rise to prominence Corera takes time to cover.
Ultimately, Corera does a good job of humanising and localising the grandiose history.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars
Reviewer copy accessed via NetGalley.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2026
I read the hardcover version, but that was not one of the choices here.
Not your typical spy book. Vasili Mitrokhin is a member of the KGB and originally had visions of his missions to other countries, hobnobbing with diplomats under cover. The organization deemed him not the right type for those missions, and made him the agent in charge of the kGB and other Russian archives. Russian types are meticulous record keepers and many of those documents and files ended up under Mitrokhin's purview. Being demoted to his position made him angry, but also stealthy. Along with keeping those files, he secreted notes of what they contained. Years and years of note taking.
"This sprawling vault, drowning in paper, was where Mitrokhin was now destined to spend his days, among faded pages stored on the shelves, outlining the secrets of people's lives. In the first decade after his banishment, the word was dull, even for a man who loved paper. He was what his colleagues called a 'clerical rat', barely worth noticing. Those who did recall him remember him as a 'bore' and a 'pedant', a stickler for making sure the right signature had been obtained to see a file. The job may have been tedious but through it Mitrokhin would learn that archives and files represented special kind of power. That was clear as the country's senior leadership wrestled with the past, something Mitrokhin was given a unique vantage point on as he observed the battle over which files would survive and which would perish.
In the Soviet Union, because so much had been built on secrets and lies, that truth--however partial and unreliable--was held in KGB files made them a powerful weapon to be wielded against enemies. In July 1936, the head of the KGB Ivan Serov had written a highly classified note for Khrushchev and the Politburo. It revealed that while in exile in Siberia before the revolution Stalin had got a 13 year old peasant girl pregnant. The memo detailing the investigation was read in secrecy at a Politburo meeting, signed by everyone and then consigned to top secret 'Special File'. Everyone who signed knew there might be a similar document about them as well. The game at the top of the system was to work out who had a file on whom, what might be in it, which ones to keep for future use and which ones you should destroy."
Towards the end of his career, he approached the American embassy in Vilnius, Latvia. Those he met with dismissed him as a lowly peasant. Later, he approached the British Embassy, also in Vilnius. Those there saw promise in the sample of documents he was willing to share.
This is an unlikely spy thriller involving Britain's MI6 and MI5, and the mission to ascertain the value of those documents, and the agreement that was reach to exfiltrate Vasili. That is where the story gets exciting. Will his wife, who knows nothing of his activities agree to accompany him to leave the country? What of his mother in law, and disabled son?
Along the way, you learn a lot about the workings of the KGB, and and also a lot about Russian history. Putin, in his early KGB career is detailed, as is dissident Solzhenitsyn, and noted turncoat USA spies.
Extremely interesting book.
Not your typical spy book. Vasili Mitrokhin is a member of the KGB and originally had visions of his missions to other countries, hobnobbing with diplomats under cover. The organization deemed him not the right type for those missions, and made him the agent in charge of the kGB and other Russian archives. Russian types are meticulous record keepers and many of those documents and files ended up under Mitrokhin's purview. Being demoted to his position made him angry, but also stealthy. Along with keeping those files, he secreted notes of what they contained. Years and years of note taking.
"This sprawling vault, drowning in paper, was where Mitrokhin was now destined to spend his days, among faded pages stored on the shelves, outlining the secrets of people's lives. In the first decade after his banishment, the word was dull, even for a man who loved paper. He was what his colleagues called a 'clerical rat', barely worth noticing. Those who did recall him remember him as a 'bore' and a 'pedant', a stickler for making sure the right signature had been obtained to see a file. The job may have been tedious but through it Mitrokhin would learn that archives and files represented special kind of power. That was clear as the country's senior leadership wrestled with the past, something Mitrokhin was given a unique vantage point on as he observed the battle over which files would survive and which would perish.
In the Soviet Union, because so much had been built on secrets and lies, that truth--however partial and unreliable--was held in KGB files made them a powerful weapon to be wielded against enemies. In July 1936, the head of the KGB Ivan Serov had written a highly classified note for Khrushchev and the Politburo. It revealed that while in exile in Siberia before the revolution Stalin had got a 13 year old peasant girl pregnant. The memo detailing the investigation was read in secrecy at a Politburo meeting, signed by everyone and then consigned to top secret 'Special File'. Everyone who signed knew there might be a similar document about them as well. The game at the top of the system was to work out who had a file on whom, what might be in it, which ones to keep for future use and which ones you should destroy."
Towards the end of his career, he approached the American embassy in Vilnius, Latvia. Those he met with dismissed him as a lowly peasant. Later, he approached the British Embassy, also in Vilnius. Those there saw promise in the sample of documents he was willing to share.
This is an unlikely spy thriller involving Britain's MI6 and MI5, and the mission to ascertain the value of those documents, and the agreement that was reach to exfiltrate Vasili. That is where the story gets exciting. Will his wife, who knows nothing of his activities agree to accompany him to leave the country? What of his mother in law, and disabled son?
Along the way, you learn a lot about the workings of the KGB, and and also a lot about Russian history. Putin, in his early KGB career is detailed, as is dissident Solzhenitsyn, and noted turncoat USA spies.
Extremely interesting book.
January 25, 2026
Gordon Corera’s “The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB” is that rare work of intelligence history that reads with the velocity of a thriller while never sacrificing analytical heft. At its center is Vasili Mitrokhin, a failed field officer turned dusty archivist who decides, almost quietly, to take on one of the most fearsome organs of state power in the twentieth century. Corera anchors the narrative not in the familiar fireworks of clandestine meetings and car chases, but in the monotony of the Lubyanka’s stacks, where Mitrokhin spends decades handling the inner secrets of the Chekist state and slowly comes to see the KGB as a moral cancer eating his country from the inside. This choice pays off: the transformation of a bookish bureaucrat into a solitary insurgent against the apparatus he serves becomes genuinely gripping. Each small act of copying, hiding, and smuggling notes out of the archive feels like a defiant vote against the entire Soviet system. The operational story—the rehousing of the KGB archives, Mitrokhin’s painstaking transcription of names, codes, and networks, and his eventual approach to Western embassies—is handled with admirable clarity. Corera is especially good on tradecraft details and bureaucratic psychology: the Americans’ initial dismissal of an odd old man with notebooks, the British diplomat’s intuition that the material might be epochal, and the fraught exfiltration of Mitrokhin and his unsuspecting family. These chapters unfold with escalating tension, yet the drama never feels manufactured; the stakes are written into every page of the archive itself. What lifts the book above many Cold War narratives is Corera’s insistence on consequence. The Mitrokhin material detonated across services in the West, exposing illegals, long-running penetrations, and the sheer scale of Soviet political warfare, while forcing the KGB to assume that much of its past was now compromised. Corera also traces the through-line from the Cheka to the late-Soviet KGB and on into the security-state ethos of post-Soviet Russia, offering pointed, unsettling reflections on continuity up to the era of Vladimir Putin. For readers steeped in intelligence literature, The Spy in the Archive offers both an indispensable case study and a sobering meditation on how one obscure individual, armed only with patience and paper, can wound a leviathan.
May 31, 2025
“How do you steal an archive? Slowly. Over years and years, was the answer.”
The Spy in the Archive tells the story of Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB agent unsuccessful in the field and demoted to the archives, who over his lifetime becomes more and more disillusioned with the Russia he sees revealed in the files that pass before him and spends a working lifetime surreptitiously copying files and gathering information. The terrifying power of the authorities as they spy on their own citizens make it a hugely dangerous endeavour and it is virtually impossible to get any information out of the country, yet Mitrokhin continues and finally manages to make contact with the West, promising them the information in return for getting him out of Russia.
This is a deeply researched book, with details taken from Mitrokhin’s own writings, from files and interviews with people who knew him directly, and covers a multitude of subjects – Mitrokhin’s own life story and attempt to escape, the history of post revolutionary Russia through the 20th century, the politics of and relationship between the secret services in the UK and US, even the occasional interlude to follow the progress of a young KBG man named Vladimir Putin as he works his way up the hierarchy.
Somehow, though, Corera manages to include all this information and still have a book that reads at the pace of a spy thriller. The old saying that truth is stranger than fiction is very apt here as the true story is as tense and immersive as any novel, each chapter ending on a cliffhanger and impossible to put down. His background as a journalist is also very helpful as he tells the story with all the relevant background and shows clearly how the Russia of today is affected by its past. It’s a superb read, entertaining, exciting and informative all the same time. Highly, highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.
The Spy in the Archive tells the story of Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB agent unsuccessful in the field and demoted to the archives, who over his lifetime becomes more and more disillusioned with the Russia he sees revealed in the files that pass before him and spends a working lifetime surreptitiously copying files and gathering information. The terrifying power of the authorities as they spy on their own citizens make it a hugely dangerous endeavour and it is virtually impossible to get any information out of the country, yet Mitrokhin continues and finally manages to make contact with the West, promising them the information in return for getting him out of Russia.
This is a deeply researched book, with details taken from Mitrokhin’s own writings, from files and interviews with people who knew him directly, and covers a multitude of subjects – Mitrokhin’s own life story and attempt to escape, the history of post revolutionary Russia through the 20th century, the politics of and relationship between the secret services in the UK and US, even the occasional interlude to follow the progress of a young KBG man named Vladimir Putin as he works his way up the hierarchy.
Somehow, though, Corera manages to include all this information and still have a book that reads at the pace of a spy thriller. The old saying that truth is stranger than fiction is very apt here as the true story is as tense and immersive as any novel, each chapter ending on a cliffhanger and impossible to put down. His background as a journalist is also very helpful as he tells the story with all the relevant background and shows clearly how the Russia of today is affected by its past. It’s a superb read, entertaining, exciting and informative all the same time. Highly, highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.
June 17, 2025
The story in itself is interesting: a KGB archivist becomes disenchanted with the Soviet system, and starts his own quiet rebellion by taking notes of the files that come across his desk, then writing them up in more detail in his dacha. This goes on for decades, and when the travel restrictions become more relaxed in the early 1990s, he walks into a US consulate, later a UK consulate, and offers up samples of his treasure trove, in exchange for the promise of exfiltration. An agreement is eventually reached on this, and he and his family are spirited across the border and into the UK. A tormented and bitter man, he proves difficult to work with and he eventually becomes as irritated with the Western world as he was with the Soviet system (shades of Sholzhenitzyn, his hero).
The book spends a lot of pages on the psychology of Vasili Mitrokhin, who went from enthusiastic KGB recruit to failed spy to archivist, his disappointment in his own stunted career hardening into fanatical hatred of the Nomenklatura and the KGB. I would have liked to hear more about the content of the material he provided. It seemed that the material was, to some extent, already out of date by the time Mitrokhin walked into the consulate, and as far as I could judge, relatively little action was taken as a result of the unmasking of (by now geriatric) spies. I will assume that Mitrokhin's notes contained sensitive material that is not made public. Either way, I was a little disappointed in the bottom line : what new information, exactly, was provided by Mitrokhin's notes?
The book spends a lot of pages on the psychology of Vasili Mitrokhin, who went from enthusiastic KGB recruit to failed spy to archivist, his disappointment in his own stunted career hardening into fanatical hatred of the Nomenklatura and the KGB. I would have liked to hear more about the content of the material he provided. It seemed that the material was, to some extent, already out of date by the time Mitrokhin walked into the consulate, and as far as I could judge, relatively little action was taken as a result of the unmasking of (by now geriatric) spies. I will assume that Mitrokhin's notes contained sensitive material that is not made public. Either way, I was a little disappointed in the bottom line : what new information, exactly, was provided by Mitrokhin's notes?
June 6, 2025
How do you steal an archive? One file at a time.
This is the story of a quiet, introverted archivist who had access to the most heavily guarded files in the world. Vasili Mitrokhin had started out as a communist party believer until he was transferred into the archives of the KGB. What he read there horrified & angered him to such an extent that he decided to copy the files, one by one, in his own shorthand code to be rewritten in his own time at home.
This work goes on for decades until one day, an old man presents himself at the British Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania & says that he has important information for them. Pages & pages of information about Soviet secret services & the infiltration of Western countries by sleeper agents known as Illegals, including names & codenames of double agents - all dutifully copied by Mitrokhin. What turned him into a dissident, a spy, & a traitor was a love for his country & hatred of the dark forces that were now running it.
A fascinating & informative look at the post-Stalin Soviet Union & the rule of the Chekists - we even get an introduction to a young Putin. Although it sometimes veered into academically dry territory, the author always managed to re-engage my interest, especially with the workings of the (sometimes seemingly inept) British MI6. A well-researched, accessibly written account.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, 4th Estate/Williams Collins, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
This is the story of a quiet, introverted archivist who had access to the most heavily guarded files in the world. Vasili Mitrokhin had started out as a communist party believer until he was transferred into the archives of the KGB. What he read there horrified & angered him to such an extent that he decided to copy the files, one by one, in his own shorthand code to be rewritten in his own time at home.
This work goes on for decades until one day, an old man presents himself at the British Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania & says that he has important information for them. Pages & pages of information about Soviet secret services & the infiltration of Western countries by sleeper agents known as Illegals, including names & codenames of double agents - all dutifully copied by Mitrokhin. What turned him into a dissident, a spy, & a traitor was a love for his country & hatred of the dark forces that were now running it.
A fascinating & informative look at the post-Stalin Soviet Union & the rule of the Chekists - we even get an introduction to a young Putin. Although it sometimes veered into academically dry territory, the author always managed to re-engage my interest, especially with the workings of the (sometimes seemingly inept) British MI6. A well-researched, accessibly written account.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, 4th Estate/Williams Collins, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
March 3, 2026
Have you ever had the desire and the power to “stick it” to an organization or person that you believe is doing terrible things? What would you be willing to risk to make things right by getting sensitive information out into the right hands? If you have ever pondered these questions - or actually been a whistleblower - then my sense is you would find The Spy in the Archive to be a worthy read.
Why? Well, for starters, the main character, V Mitrohkin, got a chance to see first hand how destructive, vindictive, deceitful, and malevolent his own intelligence services were being. He knew that one or two documents would be a drop on the ocean and wouldn’t serve to deter anything about the direction his dear Russia was taking. So, being an archivist, he chose to take a long view and copy a huge chunk of the files on the archives. But, what to do then? How to get them into the right hands?
While the story is no James Bond novel, it was intriguing and the author did a nice job of keeping my interest. Sadly, in the spirit of everything has its time, VK was too slow and too late to make things right. And the organizations that received the info were also captive to their own motivations and self-preservation.
I found the inner view of Russia, its culture, and the mindset of its people to be fascinating. And tragic.
An interesting story about an era and an opportunity missed. Information, like milk and eggs, has a shelf life. .
Why? Well, for starters, the main character, V Mitrohkin, got a chance to see first hand how destructive, vindictive, deceitful, and malevolent his own intelligence services were being. He knew that one or two documents would be a drop on the ocean and wouldn’t serve to deter anything about the direction his dear Russia was taking. So, being an archivist, he chose to take a long view and copy a huge chunk of the files on the archives. But, what to do then? How to get them into the right hands?
While the story is no James Bond novel, it was intriguing and the author did a nice job of keeping my interest. Sadly, in the spirit of everything has its time, VK was too slow and too late to make things right. And the organizations that received the info were also captive to their own motivations and self-preservation.
I found the inner view of Russia, its culture, and the mindset of its people to be fascinating. And tragic.
An interesting story about an era and an opportunity missed. Information, like milk and eggs, has a shelf life. .
September 14, 2025
I was intrigued by the title of this book. It’s about Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB archivist who defected to Britain in 1992. Mitrokhin, a quiet, introverted and determined man, was a reluctant defector, because whilst he loved Russia he came to hate the KGB and the Soviet system.
Working in the archives gave him access to top-secret documents and he decided to copy the files on slips of paper written in his own personal code, a type of shorthand. He wasn’t searched when he left work, although his bags were, so he hid the slips of paper in his clothing and typed them up in full at home. They included details about the Soviet secret service and the ‘illegals’, deep-cover operatives who penetrated Western society. These ‘illegals’ had been used to recruit and run the Cambridge spies, including Kim Philby in MI6 as well as atomic spies in America who had stolen the secrets of the Manhattan project and the bomb, and spies in other countries. He also noted the names of hundreds of agents in the west who had collaborated with the KGB. He wanted the documents he had copied to be made public, not just to the world but to open the Russians’ eyes to the corruption, torture and terror that was prevalent.
So, in 1992 he decided to take a sample of his notes first to the US embassy in Riga and Vilnius, but he was not taken seriously, He then went to the British embassy in Vilnius, where he was believed and eventually and handed over his secret archive.
It is a remarkable book about a remarkable man. It’s an in-depth account, that took me weeks to read as it’s not a book to read quickly. It’s fascinating and informative, as I know very little about Russian history post the 1917 Revolution (and not much before that either). It includes a glimpse of a young Vladimir Putin, aged sixteen, who already walked with a swagger as he announced to a KGB official that he wanted to get a job, on his way to becoming a Chekist. I think it’s worthy of note that in 2000 he was the first President to attend the Chekist day celebrations personally. Corera wrote that ‘only a few could understand what his [Putin’s] rise really signified. Mitrokhin, in his exile, was one of those. He understood the Chekist roots from which Putin had sprung and he understood what his rise meant.’
I’d never heard of Chekism before so that was particularly interesting for me. The word derives from Lenin’s creation in 1917 of the ‘All Russian Extraordinary Committee to combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage’, known by its initials as the Cheka. It was more than a secret police force, it was ‘a revolutionary terrorist organisation’. The Lubyanka building in Moscow was its headquarters. It was formally dissolved in 1922 (the year Mitrokhin was born). But it was renamed several times and eventually emerged as the KGB. As Corera explains ‘the Cheka never died. It simply passed from the land of the living to the land of the dead, an otherworldly beast whose outward form would change but whose dark heart kept beating. … those who served the beast would always refer to themselves as the same thing: Chekists.’ Mitrokhin became a Chekist and that was what he came to hate and want to defeat by exposing to the Russian people and the world. He made it a condition of his defection that the documents he had copied should be made public
The final section concerning his exfiltration from Russia via Lithuania and Sweden reads like fiction. It was hard to believe that it is all true, as I began to wonder whether Mitrokhin and his family would make it to London, even though I knew that he did. Sadly, despite his determination that his work would reach the Russian people, that has not proved possible. He died from pneumonia in January 2004.
Working in the archives gave him access to top-secret documents and he decided to copy the files on slips of paper written in his own personal code, a type of shorthand. He wasn’t searched when he left work, although his bags were, so he hid the slips of paper in his clothing and typed them up in full at home. They included details about the Soviet secret service and the ‘illegals’, deep-cover operatives who penetrated Western society. These ‘illegals’ had been used to recruit and run the Cambridge spies, including Kim Philby in MI6 as well as atomic spies in America who had stolen the secrets of the Manhattan project and the bomb, and spies in other countries. He also noted the names of hundreds of agents in the west who had collaborated with the KGB. He wanted the documents he had copied to be made public, not just to the world but to open the Russians’ eyes to the corruption, torture and terror that was prevalent.
So, in 1992 he decided to take a sample of his notes first to the US embassy in Riga and Vilnius, but he was not taken seriously, He then went to the British embassy in Vilnius, where he was believed and eventually and handed over his secret archive.
It is a remarkable book about a remarkable man. It’s an in-depth account, that took me weeks to read as it’s not a book to read quickly. It’s fascinating and informative, as I know very little about Russian history post the 1917 Revolution (and not much before that either). It includes a glimpse of a young Vladimir Putin, aged sixteen, who already walked with a swagger as he announced to a KGB official that he wanted to get a job, on his way to becoming a Chekist. I think it’s worthy of note that in 2000 he was the first President to attend the Chekist day celebrations personally. Corera wrote that ‘only a few could understand what his [Putin’s] rise really signified. Mitrokhin, in his exile, was one of those. He understood the Chekist roots from which Putin had sprung and he understood what his rise meant.’
I’d never heard of Chekism before so that was particularly interesting for me. The word derives from Lenin’s creation in 1917 of the ‘All Russian Extraordinary Committee to combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage’, known by its initials as the Cheka. It was more than a secret police force, it was ‘a revolutionary terrorist organisation’. The Lubyanka building in Moscow was its headquarters. It was formally dissolved in 1922 (the year Mitrokhin was born). But it was renamed several times and eventually emerged as the KGB. As Corera explains ‘the Cheka never died. It simply passed from the land of the living to the land of the dead, an otherworldly beast whose outward form would change but whose dark heart kept beating. … those who served the beast would always refer to themselves as the same thing: Chekists.’ Mitrokhin became a Chekist and that was what he came to hate and want to defeat by exposing to the Russian people and the world. He made it a condition of his defection that the documents he had copied should be made public
The final section concerning his exfiltration from Russia via Lithuania and Sweden reads like fiction. It was hard to believe that it is all true, as I began to wonder whether Mitrokhin and his family would make it to London, even though I knew that he did. Sadly, despite his determination that his work would reach the Russian people, that has not proved possible. He died from pneumonia in January 2004.
June 14, 2025
This is the fascinating story of a quiet, unobtrusive, effectively invisible man called Vasili Mitrokhin. But Vasili was special. He was a librarian who worked in the KGB archives. Over years, he became disillusioned with the cruelty and corruption of his country and so he started copying information by hand. His bags were searched as he left work, but not his person. So he kept the handwritten notes inside his shirt etc.,
He went to the US Embassy but they thought the strange man was a fraud. He went to the British Embassy and a young diplomat had a feeling there was substance to his story. There the adventure begins to get Vasili and his family out of Russia to safety when they knew nothing about his betrayal of Russia.
The story flows brilliantly and is truly astonishing. Mr Corera allows Vasili to be front and centre and we are caught up in the convoluted plan to get his information to the West. There was so much information that a lot of it is yet to be properly translated and investigated.
We should be giving thanks for brave souls like Vasili Mitrokhin.
I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley
He went to the US Embassy but they thought the strange man was a fraud. He went to the British Embassy and a young diplomat had a feeling there was substance to his story. There the adventure begins to get Vasili and his family out of Russia to safety when they knew nothing about his betrayal of Russia.
The story flows brilliantly and is truly astonishing. Mr Corera allows Vasili to be front and centre and we are caught up in the convoluted plan to get his information to the West. There was so much information that a lot of it is yet to be properly translated and investigated.
We should be giving thanks for brave souls like Vasili Mitrokhin.
I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley
June 17, 2025
I struggled to finish reading this even though it was a genre I was interested in; history. But I ended up feeling stressed trying to digest all the relevant facts. So, reading that contains too many facts, will make me feel unhooked to continue reading.
From what I understand, the main character named Vasili is a librarian who works at the KGB archives. He is disillusioned that oneday what he read about the files that archieves in the library will bring cruelty and corruption to his country oneday.
Then, there is a story about the post-Stalin Soviet Union, and also we will introduced to young Putin in this book. I think the author did deep research that covered multiple subjects about the political relationship between UK & US.
From what I understand, the main character named Vasili is a librarian who works at the KGB archives. He is disillusioned that oneday what he read about the files that archieves in the library will bring cruelty and corruption to his country oneday.
Then, there is a story about the post-Stalin Soviet Union, and also we will introduced to young Putin in this book. I think the author did deep research that covered multiple subjects about the political relationship between UK & US.
January 18, 2026
How do you steal a whole library of the KGB? By patience and by years of taking notes, slipping in your shoes or duffel bags relevant documents which can prove to the West that you are not a double agent, by pretending you are faithful to a rotten and corrupt regime and by many other tricks. This book shows how one man was more than courageous enough and stole the most secret stuff which was to be found in the library of the First Directorate of the KGB, after which all the stuff was handed to the MI6 . It is a companion book which accompanies the previously-published two volumes of Professor Christopher Andrew's hefty volumes and adds a lot of info on Mitrokhin and his small family.
For anyone interested in the machinations and murky Cold War espionage world, this book is a must.
For anyone interested in the machinations and murky Cold War espionage world, this book is a must.
August 21, 2025
Very well written, with short, punchy chapters. It tells an engrossing story, helping the uninitiated to understand more about the worlds of state security and spying, about the very human motivations and behaviours of those who work in that environment.
It reminds us of the hopeful period in the recent past when Russia seemed to be on a path to something different.
The strongest part was the writing about the pervasiveness of the “informant” and Chekist culture, and the absolute corrosiveness of it. So repulsive to its own archivist. But sadly, now resurged and dominant under Putin. Very thoughtful, indeed.
It reminds us of the hopeful period in the recent past when Russia seemed to be on a path to something different.
The strongest part was the writing about the pervasiveness of the “informant” and Chekist culture, and the absolute corrosiveness of it. So repulsive to its own archivist. But sadly, now resurged and dominant under Putin. Very thoughtful, indeed.
January 16, 2026
Comparing this to the bio of Oleg Gordievsky is probably not fair. Vasilii Mitrokhin was a consummate bureaucrat embittered by what he felt was unjust treatment; Gordievsky was an active, senior member of the nomenklatura, inspired by both his distaste for the Soviet system and the adrenaline of spying, and, later, defecting.
Corera does a marvelous job bringing to life the stultifying inertia of the bureaucratic impulse to document and store everything - the story is all in sepia tones, with an overlay of grime. Mitrokhin's escape does have some dramatic moments, but the life he builds with his family in the West seems as constrained and grey as the one he left.
Corera does a marvelous job bringing to life the stultifying inertia of the bureaucratic impulse to document and store everything - the story is all in sepia tones, with an overlay of grime. Mitrokhin's escape does have some dramatic moments, but the life he builds with his family in the West seems as constrained and grey as the one he left.
January 28, 2026
A fascinating book about a gray man who tried to change his world. Unfortunately for the late Vasili Mitrokhin, and the rest of the world, a feature of Russian culture, Chekism, refused to die with the breakup of the Soviet Union and is flourishing under Vladimir Putin. I'm beginning to think that the culture of a secret thought police is so ingrained in Russian society it will never be expunged. Checkism is something that will also keep Russia as an adversary of every other nation in the world, even those, such as China, that are seen in the West as allies. Perhaps if Mitrokhin's life's work had been revealed sooner current events might be different.
March 2, 2026
Interesting premise and I love reading anything about archives but this one failed to hold my interest. I wanted more information about the files that were released, and from what I understand, they were not as valuable as they once could have been. I did like the idea (as most archivists will) that the information in the papers be made available for everyone to see, but this book didn’t do much to further that idea. There’s a lot of moving parts in this one and it just didn’t satisfy my curiosity the way I wanted it to.
March 22, 2026
Failed KGB spy Vasili Mitrokhin is assigned to the organization's archives and meticulously copies secret files as a way of exposing repression of Soviet citizens domestically and the workings of Soviet spies internationally. He defects to the UK in the early 1990s with the help of MI6 and works on publishing accounts from the archives to give insight into what he saw as a repressive monster dedicated to control and power at all costs. Loved the episodes of The Rest is Classified podcast that examined Mitrokhin's case - this book's author is a co-host.
June 9, 2025
This story is absolutely astonishing. It reads like a thriller and more than once I found myself holding my breath wondering what was going to happen next. It’s the true story of an unexceptional man. He’s an archivist in the KGB library and as such, is privy to secrets. He’s singular and increasingly disillusioned by the Soviet State and that leads to a life changing decision. The story is so well written, it’s difficult at times to believe it’s true. Loved it.
October 18, 2025
A really fascinating glimpse into the world of the KGB via a high ranking archivist who is late retirement & after the fall of the Communist regimes seeks asylum in the UK bringing a treasure trouve of files. Fascinating because this book speculates on how being a cog weighs on an individual's mind, but few are well placed enough to be able to piece together the hydra & see the overall picture, but Mitrokhin was just that man. Also some fascinating background on Chekists & Vladimir Putin...
February 9, 2026
A gripping account of a retired Russian archivist who defected after copying KGB's incriminating records so as to leave no trace. Vasili Mitrokhin's actions exposes the spider web of KGB spies in the rest of the world and stumps the KGB because of Mitrokhin's actions - he did not steal any records, only copied them, thereby limiting the agency's scrutiny and understanding of what's gone missing. An ingenious story!
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