Gordon Corera makes his Spybrary debut in this riveting episode of the Spybrary podcast. Host Shane Whaley welcomes the former BBC security correspondent, espionage historian and host of The Rest is Classified podcast, Gordon Corera to discuss his latest book, The Spy in the Archive.
The Cold War might be over, but its shadows stretch far into the present. What if one of the Soviet Union’s most overlooked insiders — a quiet KGB archivist — decided to turn against the very institution he once served? How did he smuggle a mountain of secrets out from under Moscow’s nose? And why did the CIA turn him away, only for MI6 to uncover what may be the most valuable intelligence defection of the era?
This is the extraordinary true story of Vasili Mitrokhin — a man whose private rebellion against the KGB became a mission to expose its darkest truths. With deep ideological conviction, he spent years quietly copying thousands of classified files, building a secret archive buried beneath his dacha floorboards. His eventual escape, orchestrated by MI6, and the revelations that followed would reshape our understanding of Soviet espionage forever.
The conversation dives deep into the life and legacy of Vasili Mitrokhin, a former KGB archivist turned dissident who smuggled out a trove of intelligence that would become one of the most important Cold War revelations. Gordon shares the challenges of researching this secretive figure, the personal and ideological motivations behind Mitrokhin’s actions, the drama of his family’s exfiltration by MI6, and how his warnings about the persistence of the KGB mindset still echo today. This episode offers a unique blend of spy history, investigative journalism, and human drama.