Spies And Mistries
New Zealand Listener|November 17 - 23 2018

A ripping journalistic tale about a Soviet double agent leaves an ex-SAS man’s yarn for dead.

Greg Dixon
Spies And Mistries

It was a glorious summer’s evening in 1985, and on a Moscow street a man stood sweating and smoking and waiting for a sign. In his hand was something utterly incongruous in the heart of the Soviet Union: a bright plastic bag from British supermarket Safeway. Yet he was nervously scanning the busy footpath for something stranger still: someone eating a Mars bar.

It sounds apocryphal, but it’s all true. The bag was a desperate plea for help; the Mars bar an acknowledgement it’d been heard. This was a spy urgently trying, albeit in the summer heat, to come in from the cold.

In the three decades since that singular, almost comical scene played out, the true story of double agent Oleg Gordievsky – a career KGB man who betrayed his country for a decade before his dramatic escape to Britain – has been told more than once, not least by the man himself in an autobiography in the 1990s. And Gordievsky, who still lives in Britain under an assumed name and guarded by MI6, has, at times, leveraged that story as a rent-a-quote for those wanting views from an ex-spy and KGB expert.

Esta historia es de la edición November 17 - 23 2018 de New Zealand Listener.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición November 17 - 23 2018 de New Zealand Listener.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE NEW ZEALAND LISTENERVer todo
First-world problem
New Zealand Listener

First-world problem

Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Applying intelligence to AI
New Zealand Listener

Applying intelligence to AI

I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Nazism rears its head
New Zealand Listener

Nazism rears its head

Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Staying ahead of the game
New Zealand Listener

Staying ahead of the game

Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?

time-read
4 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Grasping the nettle
New Zealand Listener

Grasping the nettle

Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Hangry? Eat breakfast
New Zealand Listener

Hangry? Eat breakfast

People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Chemical reaction
New Zealand Listener

Chemical reaction

Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.

time-read
4 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Me and my guitar
New Zealand Listener

Me and my guitar

Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
Time is on my side
New Zealand Listener

Time is on my side

Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?

time-read
7 minutos  |
September 9, 2024
The kids are not alright
New Zealand Listener

The kids are not alright

Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.

time-read
4 minutos  |
September 9, 2024