Whatever the case, the double agent now quietly joined the USSR. He was protected by the secret service that had taken over from the KGB and taught aspiring Russian agents, although the regime itself was no longer communist. Even though he kept his British nationality, Blake did perhaps become a genuine Russian patriot, even abandoning his communist faith and converting to Orthodoxy. In his quiet but comfortable dacha in Voronezh, he has remained a hero for the Russians. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, a distinction awarded to only the most valiant combatants. Better yet, he later received the Order of Friendship medal from Vladimir Putin, the highest honour that can be given to a non-Russian. This is further evidence that Blake was one of the most important Soviet spies of the twentieth century.
As a true spy, Blake was also behind the arrests of dozens of Eastern agents who worked for the British or Americans.
Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky
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In the four years he spent in Berlin, Blake ‘gave up' several British and American officers, including Major General Robert Bialek, a former agent of the state security service of the GDR. Bialek had defected in 1953 and was now living in West Berlin under an assumed identity. While walking his dog one evening in February 1956, he was brutally thrown into a car and taken to the Soviet intelligence headquarters in East Berlin and executed. Blake also betrayed Piotr Popov, a Lieutenant Colonel in the GRU (the secret service of the Soviet Army), who in 1953 had become the largest CIA plant in the Soviet intelligence service. In 1959, a few months after Blake had returned to London, Popov was arrested by the KGB. His secret trial took place in 1963 in the great hall of the KGB's officers' mess. All the depositions, including Popov's, were read out before the opening of the trial and the procedure lasted less than two hours. Popov was sentenced to execution by firing squad.
Although Blake did not deny such accusations, which totalled around 400, he claimed that none of them had resulted in death sentences. He had apparently asked the KGB to ensure this, but the Soviets were naturally under no obligation to respect their agreement. In 1990, Blake published his autobiography in English. The British government tried to prevent his copyright on the grounds that the book would betray classified information, but the judge declared that Blake, who had already admitted his betrayal, could not remain silent forever. The government's case was therefore dismissed - one last victory for the spy!
Chapter 7
Penkovsky: Luring Cuban Missiles
The Cuban Missile Crisis took place fifty-four years ago. For one week in 1962, atomic war was nearly a reality and the world appeared on the brink of nuclear annihilation. However, the game played by the world's two superpowers at the time was largely a game of bluff: neither of two ‘Ks', Kennedy and Khrushchev, were particularly eager to push the red button.
Yet this same dramatic week in which the whole world trembled also conceals an extraordinary spy story. In reality, the cards were already marked from the beginning, and each player in this game of poker knew much more than he was letting on.
The key man in the affair was Oleg Vladimirovitch Penkovsky, a colonel in the Soviet Army's intelligence agency. But firstly, let us consider a brief review of the crisis itself.
On 22 October 1962, President Kennedy made an appearance on US television. He was unusually stern; telling his compatriots that he had evidence of the Soviets installing ballistic missile bases in Cuba. These rockets were equipped with nuclear warheads and once operational, could be a threat to American territory. As far as Kennedy was concerned, this was unacceptable. America, he said, would fight back! He announced the immediate establishment of a blockade around Cuba that would prevent anymore weapons from being delivered and that this blockade would remain in place until the weapons had been removed. He held the USSR responsible and declared that should anything untoward happen, then US rockets would be launched in the direction of Russia.
The world was stunned by what was happening: if the Soviet leaders did not comply with America's demands, then nuclear war would no doubt follow. While Kennedy received the full support of the western allies - de Gaulle was the first to offer his backing - it is interesting to note that US forces were put on high alert all over the globe. Meanwhile, it was reported that Soviet warships were heading for Cuba. While in Moscow, Khrushchev denounced what he saw as US piracy and the unyielding madness of imperialism, even declaring that there was no crisis in Cuba.What would happen now if the US Navy boarded a Soviet ship? The world held its breath as the crisis dragged on for a week. The longest week of the entire Cold War.
De Gaulle proved himself a particularly loyal friend to France's American and British allies during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yet they often kept Paris in the dark from what the secret services were actually doing during the crisis. This was in spite of the fact that France had shown itself willing to collaborate with other intelligence agencies when the fate of western democracy was on the line. The Farewell dossier was a clear example of this: thanks to this incomparable spy, controlled by French agencies, hundreds of Soviet agents had been unmasked throughout the world during the early 1980s.
The consequence of this sidelining of the French secret services meant that once the crisis had ended, they were able to rebuild the hidden side of the affair without anyone knowing. But what evidence is there to suggest that the Cuban Missile Crisis actually conceals a spy story?
We must first remember that after Kennedy's dramatic announcement on television, the Pentagon released a series of documents. These included photographs
