The Spy in the Archive

How do you steal a library? Not just any library but the most secret archive in the world. The answer is to be a librarian. To be so quiet, that no-one knows what you are up to as you toil undercover over decades and so low key, that even after your escape, aided by MI6, no-one even notices you are gone.

The Spy in the Archive is the remarkable story of how Vasili Mitrokhin – an introverted archivist who loved nothing more than dusty files – ended up changing the world. As the in-house archivist for the KGB, the secrets he was exposed to inside its walls turned him first into a dissident and then a spy, a man determined to expose the truth about the dark forces that had subverted Russia, forces still at work in the country today.

This is the story of one man’s journey from the heart of the Soviet state to disillusion and then betrayal and his determination to take on the most powerful institution in the world.

Reviews

REVIEWS FOR RUSSIANS AMONG US

‘This [is a] superb study of the illegals system … In the West it was erroneously assumed that the illegals programme ended with the Cold War, but as Corera proves it was ramped up and modernised by Putin for the 21st century … Alexander Poteyev was a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan who rose to become deputy head of Directorate S. His story, told here for the first time, is an extraordinary one… Corera tells this astonishing tale with deft authority, placing it in the wider context of Russian intelligence strategy. Few are better versed in the intricacies of the continuing spy war between East and West’ Ben Macintyre, The Times

‘Extremely readable … A lively and disturbing account of the extraordinary events that led to, and the terrible ones that followed, the Vienna spy swap in 2010, an episode perhaps best remembered in the West for Anna Chapman, the strikingly beautiful socialite who turned out to be a Russian spy' Telegraph

‘A lively and engrossing account of the FBI’s decade-long counterintelligence operation … Corera correctly notes that the US and UK were slow to appreciate Russia’s malign intent once Putin became president … Offers a persuasive account of how Moscow had adapted its espionage toolkit … A compelling book that combines good storytelling with subtle understanding of spy methods old and new’ Luke Harding, Observer

About the author

Gordon Corera is a journalist and writer on intelligence and security issues. Since 2004 he has been a Security Correspondent for BBC News where he covers terrorism, cyber security, the work of intelligence agencies and other national security issues for BBC TV, Radio and Online.