logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2025
49m 1s

16.⁠ ⁠Crossing the Iron Curtain: Escape ...

Goalhanger
About this episode

How would you disguise a cyanide pill for a CIA spy in Moscow during the Cold War? What risks could Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles pose to Adolf Tolkachev’s mission against the Soviet state? And will the CIA’s mole in Moscow be discovered by the KGB?


It’s 1985, and for the past five years, Tolkachev has been providing the CIA with top secret documents detailing the intricacies of Soviet radar technology. He’s risked everything he knows and loves to help orchestrate the demise of the USSR, but is he teetering on the edge of discovery? Listen as David and Gordon share the third instalment of the story of Adolf Tolkachev as his health begins to decline and he realises a suicide pill might be his only way out. 


-------------------


Pre-order a signed edition of David's latest book, The Seventh Floor, via this link.


-------------------


Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.nordvpn.com/restisclassified


It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee!


Email: classified@goalhanger.com


Twitter: @triclassified


Assistant Producer: Becki Hills


Producer: Callum Hill


Senior Producer: Dom Johnson


Exec Producer: Tony Pastor

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Yesterday
63. Terror Strikes London: What did MI5 know? (Ep 2)
Fifteen months before the London bombings, MI5 had seen them. They had names, photographs, and addresses. Two of the men who would carry out the 7/7 attacks had already appeared in surveillance. And then… they vanished back into the noise. In this second episode of our 7/7 series ... Show More
36m 4s
Jul 6
62. Terror Strikes London: 7/7 (Ep 1)
London woke up to joy and celebration on 7 July 2005. The city had just won the 2012 Olympics. It was a glorious summer. There were parties in the streets. But, by 9am, everything had changed. Three explosions tore through the London Underground. Minutes later, a double-decker bu ... Show More
41m 6s
Jul 1
61. The Truth About UFOs: Whistleblowers, Warplanes, and Worlds Unknown (Ep 4)
For years, the term UFO conjured images of tin foil hats and elaborate cover-ups. But with recent official reports from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailing hundreds of UAP sightings, including objects that remain stationary in high winds or manoeuvre in ... Show More
42m 12s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2024
The Spy Who Defused the Missile Crisis | The Stranger In Red Square | 1
It’s 1960. The world hangs on the brink of nuclear war. But in Moscow, a man’s about to emerge from the shadows with an offer for the CIA. His name is Oleg Penkovsky and he wants to supply the US with the Soviet Union’s greatest nuclear secrets. But is he for real or part of an e ... Show More
42m 11s
Jul 2024
The Spy Who Defused the Missile Crisis | Manoeuvres in Moscow | 3
Oleg Penkovsky is back in the USSR, ready to feed Soviet secrets to his new MI6 contact: a pram-pushing mother of three. But with the Berlin Crisis about to boil over, his intel could be the difference between war and peace. But with the KGB lurking everywhere smuggling these sec ... Show More
43m 2s
Sep 2020
The Nuclear Superhighway | CIA
Undercover CIA agent James Olson takes Vanessa Kirby on a nail-biting mission behind the Iron Curtain. In the late 1970s, James was tasked with tapping an underground communications line between Moscow and a top-secret nuclear weapons facility. Under constant surveillance from th ... Show More
50m 43s
May 7
563. Peter the Great: Bloodbath in the Kremlin (Part 2)
What abominable mischief and hedonism did the seventeen year old Peter the Great revel in during his strange and remarkable travels through Europe, before truly stepping into the role of Tsar of all the Russias? Did it serve a secret political purpose? What was the outcome of the ... Show More
1h 4m
Mar 2025
The Spies Who Invaded Suburbia | Former illegal spy Jack Barsky on years undercover | 4
Jack Barsky was arguably one of the most successful and enduring of the "Illegals”. These were the Soviet and Russian operatives who seamlessly integrated into American society while covertly serving their handlers in Moscow. But as Jack started a family in his new country, the w ... Show More
40m 46s
Mar 2024
The new Dark Age of Espionage
The spying game was supposed to fade into history with the Cold War. But Vladimir Putin’s historic grievances, obsession with Ukraine and need to placate his own intelligence agencies have sent a new wave of espionage across the world. The West thinks we’re at peace. The Russians ... Show More
45m 4s
Oct 2024
The Spy Who Putin Poisoned | End of an Era | 1
When the USSR falls apart, GRU officer Sergei Skripal finds himself adrift in the new Russia, having never asked for the country's new democracy. So when he meets a shadowy wine dealer, he leaps at the chance to make some money, without a clue how the deal would lead him to Salis ... Show More
38m 49s
Sep 2024
The Kremlin
Over roughly a thousand years, the Kremlin has come to symbolise Russia itself, with all its varying fortunes, allegiances, and leaders. It’s a physical location that has become synonymous with government and nationhood. Through war and peace, Russia’s leaders have always striven ... Show More
1h 1m
Dec 2024
The Spy Who Killed a Prime Minister | Cold Jungle | 3
While Patrice Lumumba battles to control his country, MI6 officer Daphne Park and CIA officer Larry Devlin are secretly battling to stop him turning to the Soviets for help.Listen to The Spy Who ad-free on Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free tr ... Show More
48m 7s
Sep 2024
Episode 367 - MKUltra - Part 1: Cold War of the Mind
In the wake of an Allied victory, the threat of a communist New World Order loomed over the West. Desperate to beat the Soviets at their own game, the USA gave the secret service all the money and drugs they needed to create a real-life Manchurian Candidate.Left with their minds ... Show More
1h 2m