Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Oleg Gordievsky escaped Moscow in the trunk of a car. Try brilliant.org/Newsthink for FREE for 30 days, and get 20% off your annual premium subscription.
I highly recommend Ben Macintyre’s The Spy and the Traitor: https://a.co/d/5JSx0Kv
My video on CIA mole Aldrich Ames: youtu.be/DP7x6Zs1gP0
Special thanks for permission to use Safeway shopping bag image: ebay.co.uk/itm/403676562845
Chapters:
0:00 A Mole Inside the KGB
1:22 Preventing Nuclear Armageddon
2:17 KGB Bloodline and Early Spy Training
2:38 Gordievsky’s Awakening
4:25 MI6 Makes Contact in Copenhagen
5:13 Gordievsky Turns Against the Soviet Union
5:58 A New Life and a New Love
6:29 Preparing the Escape Plan: Operation PIMLICO
7:18: The London Assignment
7:55 The KGB’s Nuclear Paranoia
8:25 Able Archer and the Brink of WWIII
8:47 How Gordievsky Prevented Nuclear War
9:38 CIA Agent Aldrich Ames Betrays Gordievsky
10:36 Sending the Escape Signal
11:43 The Daring Escape
14:41 Leaving His Family Behind
15:30 A Bittersweet Family Reunion
15:43 Life in hiding and Final Years
16:20 Today’s Sponsor: Brilliant
Follow Newsthink on X https://x.com/Newsthink
Newsthink is produced and presented by Cindy Pom
https://x.com/cindypom
Grab your Newsthink merch here: newsthink.creator-spring.com
Support Cindy on Patreon! patreon.com/Newsthink
Sources:
Century House, former MI6 headquarters (1964–1994): Peter Jordan via Wikimedia Commons
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO): Victoria 959, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Colorized Berlin Wall image 1: By Noir, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Colorized Berlin Wall image 2: Nancy Wong, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Prague Spring Soviet tank: By Engramma.it - Engramma.it, n. 64, agosto 2008, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Soviet panel buildings: By Lesless - Own work (аналоговый снимок), CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Arne Treholt image: By Ole-Christian Bjarkøy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Oleg Gordievsky escaped Moscow in the trunk of a car. Try brilliant.org/Newsthink for FREE for 30 days, and get 20% off your annual premium subscription.
I highly recommend Ben Macintyre’s The Spy and the Traitor: https://a.co/d/5JSx0Kv
My video on CIA mole Aldrich Ames: youtu.be/DP7x6Zs1gP0
Special thanks for permission to use Safeway shopping bag image: ebay.co.uk/itm/403676562845
Chapters:
0:00 A Mole Inside the KGB
1:22 Preventing Nuclear Armageddon
2:17 KGB Bloodline and Early Spy Training
2:38 Gordievsky’s Awakening
4:25 MI6 Makes Contact in Copenhagen
5:13 Gordievsky Turns Against the Soviet Union
5:58 A New Life and a New Love
6:29 Preparing the Escape Plan: Operation PIMLICO
7:18: The London Assignment
7:55 The KGB’s Nuclear Paranoia
8:25 Able Archer and the Brink of WWIII
8:47 How Gordievsky Prevented Nuclear War
9:38 CIA Agent Aldrich Ames Betrays Gordievsky
10:36 Sending the Escape Signal
11:43 The Daring Escape
14:41 Leaving His Family Behind
15:30 A Bittersweet Family Reunion
15:43 Life in hiding and Final Years
16:20 Today’s Sponsor: Brilliant
Follow Newsthink on X https://x.com/Newsthink
Newsthink is produced and presented by Cindy Pom
https://x.com/cindypom
Grab your Newsthink merch here: newsthink.creator-spring.com
Support Cindy on Patreon! patreon.com/Newsthink
Sources:
Century House, former MI6 headquarters (1964–1994): Peter Jordan via Wikimedia Commons
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO): Victoria 959, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Colorized Berlin Wall image 1: By Noir, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Colorized Berlin Wall image 2: Nancy Wong, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Prague Spring Soviet tank: By Engramma.it - Engramma.it, n. 64, agosto 2008, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Soviet panel buildings: By Lesless - Own work (аналоговый снимок), CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Arne Treholt image: By Ole-Christian Bjarkøy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
