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The Spy in the Archive
The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB | Gordan Corera
1 post | 1 read
How do you steal a library? Not just any library but the most secret, heavily guarded archive in the world. The answer is to be a librarian. To be so quiet, that no-one knows what you are up to as you toil undercover and deep amongst the files. The work goes on for decades but remains so low key, that even after your escape, aided by MI6, no-one even notices you are gone.
The Spy in the Archive tells the remarkable story of how Vasili Mitrokhin – an introverted archivist who loved nothing more than dusty files – ended up changing the world. As the in-house archivist for the KGB, the secrets he was exposed to inside its walls turned him first into a dissident and then a spy, a traitor to his country but a man determined to expose the truth about the dark forces that had subverted Russia, forces still at work in the country today.
Bestselling writer and historian Gordon Corera tells of the operation to extract this prized asset from Russia for the first time. It is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, with vivid flashbacks to Mitrokhin’s earlier time as a KGB idealist prepared to do what it took to serve the Soviet Union and his growing realisation that the communist state was imprisoning its own people. It is the story of what it was like to live in the Soviet Union, to raise a family and then of one man’s journey from the heart of the Soviet state to disillusion, betrayal and defection. At its heart is Mitrokhin’s determination to take on the most powerful institution in the world by revealing its darkest secrets. This is narrative non-fiction at its absolute best.
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How do you steal an archive? One file at a time.

This is the story of a quiet, introverted archivist who had access to the most heavily guarded files in the world. Vasili Mitrokhin had started out as a communist party believer until he was transferred into the archives of the KGB. What he read there angered him to such an extent that he decided to copy the files, one by one, in his own shorthand code to be rewritten in his own time at home.

OutsmartYourShelf This work goes on for decades until one day, an old man presents himself at the British Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania & says that he has important information for them. Pages & pages of information about Soviet secret services & the infiltration of Western countries by sleeper agents known as Illegals, including names & codenames of double agents - all dutifully copied by Mitrokhin. 3w
OutsmartYourShelf What turned him into a dissident, a spy, & a traitor was a love for his country & hatred of the dark forces that were now running it.

A fascinating & informative look at the post-Stalin Soviet Union & the rule of the Chekists - we even get an introduction to a young Putin. Although it sometimes veered into academically dry territory, the author always managed to re-engage my interest,
3w
OutsmartYourShelf especially with the workings of the (sometimes seemingly inept) British MI6. A well-researched, accessibly written account. 4🌟

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, 4th Estate/Williams Collins, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7617428178
Read 1st-6th Jun 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
3w
DieAReader 😏Fascinating! 3w
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