The high-level KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky pleaded in vain with British intelligence to extract his family from the Soviet Union, top secret files reveal.
Documents released to the National Archives in Kew expose the complex calculations shaping cold war espionage, while politicians cultivated a thaw in personal relationships with Mikhail Gorbachev.
The defection of Gordievsky was one of the UK’s greatest security coups, delivering a stream of high-grade information. MI6’s agent, however, eventually fell under suspicion, and was ordered back to Moscow and interrogated by the KGB. In the summer of 1985, Gordievsky managed to evade his captors and was smuggled out of Russia.
The prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was informed about the impending crisis in UK/Russian relations. She was presented with a memorandum, rated “top secret and strictly personal”, by Charles Powell, her foreign affairs adviser.
“Hetman” – the codename under which Gordievsky operated – had disclosed that at least 25 Russian and east European diplomats based in London were spies. The government was determined to expel them but hesitated as it bargained over the fate of Gordievsky’s family.
The issue was put bluntly: “Do we continue to try to secure the release of his family? Or in the light of the Soviet response so far, do we give up? The foreign secretary [Sir Geoffrey Howe] wants to give up. Officials are agnostic but pessimistic about the chance of success.
“How many Russians do we expel? The options are a) 25, b) 9 with 16 others required to leave, c) 9 (foreign secretary’s preference).” Thatcher’s blue pen had circled 25.
Other questions included whether to restrict Soviet diplomats’ permitted travel zone to 20 miles around London and whether to expel agents from other east European embassies.
The British ambassador in Moscow sent a strongly worded telegram opposing further efforts being made to secure Hetman’s family. “I see the strongest objections to continuing to pursue what we know to be a lost cause,” he cabled. “It can only signal weakness to the Russians and encourage them to escalate their counter-threats.”
The meeting was attended by Thatcher, Howe, the home secretary, Douglas Hurd, the head of MI5, Sir Anthony Duff, and “C”, the head of MI6. They agreed to abandon attempts to free Gordievsky’s family and expel “25 identified Soviet intelligence officers”.
Their note added that “it was recognised that this would be hard for Hetman to accept. It should be explained to him that we had already risked a lot by the delay.”
Recalling the dilemma, Gordievsky told the Guardian: “I discussed [with my British handlers] the expulsion of the Russian apparatus from London. I said: ‘Don’t do that, get my family’ … It was very, very, difficult.”
In 1991, Boris Yeltsin agreed to allow Gordievsky’s wife and daughters to join him in UK. “Yeltsin enjoyed embarrassing the KGB,” the former KGB man said.
However, Gordievsky soon separated from his wife. Their relationship did not last their enforced separation. She and his daughters returned to Russia, using her maiden name.
