our station in moscow was quite a small one. the whole apparatus of control and surveillance was very sophisticated. i mean, they used to paint radioactive paint on the bottom of our cars, you know, in order to track us. we were thin on the ground, really. it was extremely hard for outsiders to discover anything significant about the soviet political intentions. [indistinct radio chatter] [narrator] while british agents seek a foothold in moscow, in london, oleg gordievsky joins his fellow spies. [alexander] london was one of the major cities where soviet espionage was going on. the kgb quarters in london, it s called a station. kgb station.
during the evening or on weekends, he became a spy. the job was to get british secrets, especially secrets concerning britain s foreign policy. [narrator] gordievsky is under pressure to send intelligence to moscow that validates operation ryan. at the same time, he s had to hide the fact that he is a kgb spy from the british. in their eyes, he s just a diplomat. if he blows his cover or fails to feed the soviet leadership with good intel, he ll be on the next plane to moscow. [alexander] it was a very bold career move for gordievsky. but the british counterintelligence service, mi5, is considered one of the most professional services in the world.
maybe i develop paranoia. [narrator] .and never-before- heard recordings. [aldrich ames, on recording] [narrator] .that reveal the deadly intrigues at the heart of the battle between east and west. [alexander vassiliev] look, this is a war. a secret war. [dramatic music playing] [menacing music playing]
it s located in the russian embassy. that london job was extremely advantageous for gordievsky. it means that he was trusted, and that he was a decent operative, and it was good for him. [dramatic music playing] [narrator] at the kgb station in london, there are two agents above gordievsky in the hierarchy. one of them is the kgb station chief, arkady guk. [alexander] gordievsky was supposed to spend most of his time, 9:00 to 5:00, in the embassy doing his official job, being a diplomat. and then,
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