🎧 Spymasters — The Spy Who Knew Too Much: Vasily Mitrokin and the KGB's Secret History

What happens when the keeper of secrets decides to tell the truth?

This episode uncovers the extraordinary story of Vasili Mitrokhin — the KGB archivist who risked everything to smuggle out the Soviet Union’s deepest intelligence secrets. From a disillusioned believer in communism to one of the West’s most valuable defectors, Mitrokin’s journey is a Cold War thriller rooted in truth. Antonia Senior talks to journalist and author Gordon Corera

We explore:

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  Mitrokin’s quiet rebellion inside the KGB archive

  
  


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  How the Prague Spring shattered his faith in the Soviet system

  
  


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  The years-long process of secretly copying and hiding thousands of classified documents

  
  


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  His dramatic defection — and the West’s initial skepticism

  
  


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  The long-term impact of the Mitrokin Archive on our understanding of Cold War espionage

  
  

🔍 Based on A Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera

📘 Get the book here

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  Vasily Mitrokin was a senior KGB archivist who became deeply disillusioned with Soviet ideology.

  
  


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  Over more than a decade, he secretly copied thousands of classified files detailing Soviet espionage around the world.

  
  


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  His work offers unparalleled insights into KGB operations, agent networks, and Cold War strategies.

  
  


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  The defection was logistically and emotionally complex, hampered by the sheer volume of documents.

  
  


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  Western intelligence agencies were at first hesitant to believe him.

  
  


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  The Mitrokin Archive has transformed the study of Cold War intelligence.

  
  

00:00 — Introduction to The Spy in the Archive

02:10 — Mitrokin's Early Life and Ideological Journey

05:04 — Inside the KGB: Belief Turns to Doubt

11:02 — Years in the Archives: The Birth of a Secret Mission

18:37 — From Archivist to Whistleblower

20:30 — The Cost of Telling the Truth

25:10 — Smuggling Out a Secret Empire

28:16 — Facing the Doubters in the West

29:40 — Missed Warnings and Intelligence Oversights

32:01 — The Persistence of the Czechists

34:23 — Opening the Vault: What the Archive Revealed

39:12 — Justice Delayed: Legal and Political Fallout

42:53 — Can We Trust the Archive?

45:40 — Legacy, Lessons, and the Future of Spycraft

48:25 — Outro

Vasily Mitrokin, KGB, Cold War, espionage, intelligence, defection, Soviet Union, Prague Spring, archives, whistleblower, Gordon Corera, MI6, CIA, Western intelligence, Mitrokin Archive, communism, secrets, spycraft

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