Background
Gordievskii, Oleg was born in 1939.
Gordievskii, Oleg was born in 1939.
Head of the Committee for State Security in London who defected in September 1985 and revealed the names of 25 Soviet agents working in the West. According to his own information, graduated from Moscow training school (presumably the Committee for State Security special school) in 1963. Spent much of the next 10 years dealing, both in Moscow and abroad, with Soviet ‘illegals’, a euphemism for Committee for State Security agents planted in foreign countries to operate totally undercover.
Until his defection in London, worked as a Committee for State Security officer at the 3rd Department inside the 1st Directorate (Committee for State Security), which has responsibility for Committee for State Security secret operations abroad. His zone was Britain and the Scandinavian countries where he operated under diplomatic cover. Posted to Denmark in 1966 as a press attache at the Soviet Embassy in Copenhagen.
Worked there for 4 years. In 1972, returned to Denmark with the rank of 2nd Secretary of the Soviet Embassy. After 6 years promoted to 1st Secretary, in which role he became economic and political adviser to the Ambassador.
In June 1982, arrived in the Soviet Embassy in London as a councillor, ranking number 6 in the embassy hierarchy. His job was to make contact with religious groups, peace organisations and trade unions. Promoted 2 years later after the London Committee for State Security chief Arkadii Guk was publicly exposed during the trial of Michael Bettaney.
Became controller of the Committee for State Security in Britain and possibly all Europe. Married in Moscow. After his defection, the family’s fate was unknown. Revealed many Committee for State Security secret operations in the West.
Probably now lives in the USA.
Religions encourage war and violence to promote their religious goals.
The emphasis on peaceful coexistence doesn’t mean that the Soviet Union accepted a static world with clear lines. Socialism is inevitable and the "correlations of forces" were moving towards socialism.