Podcast Summary

The Rest Is Classified – Episode 85: The Man Who Saved The World: The Great Escape (Ep 6)

Date: September 23, 2025
Hosts: David McCloskey (A), Gordon Corera (B)

Overview

In the climactic conclusion of their series on Oleg Gordievsky, “The Man Who Saved The World,” David McCloskey and Gordon Corera dissect the dramatic events of Operation Pimlico—a daring MI6 scheme to exfiltrate the KGB’s top British mole from under the noses of Soviet intelligence. With first-hand insights, rich anecdotes, and sharp analysis, they revisit the tension-soaked hours of Gordievsky’s escape, the high-stakes cat-and-mouse with KGB surveillance, and the enduring personal and strategic consequences of his actions for the Cold War and beyond.

Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. The Final Hours Before Escape (00:03–02:09)

• Gordievsky’s meticulous preparation as he cleans his Moscow apartment, knowing he may never return.
  • Quote: “I did not doubt that the KGB would study every detail and I was anxious that they should find things ship shape.” – (A, 00:12)
• Both hosts reflect on Gordievsky’s way of asserting psychological control under stress.
  • Quote: “It’s a control thing.” – (A, 02:35)

2. Inside Operation Pimlico: Planning and Peril (02:35–07:44)

• Revisiting the escape plan: MI6’s Moscow station (headed by Raymond Asquith, future Earl of Oxford) would drive Gordievsky across the border to Finland using diplomatic immunity.
• The convoluted layers of KGB surveillance on MI6 staff.
  • Anecdotes about bugged flats, “conversing” with surveillance, and even the KGB’s subtle humor.
  • Quote: “He decides to address the ceiling, knowing that there’s a bugging device…a note appears a few hours later under the door telling him which park they’d agreed to.” (B, 05:07)
• Using family and a sick wife as cover, even considering chloroforming children to evade Soviet detection.

3. Execution of the Escape: Chaos and Chance (07:44–17:04)

Gordievsky’s Route

• Disguised as a jogger, Oleg runs from his apartment, loses possible tails, and maneuvers through train stations and buses towards Leningrad, then the Finnish border.
  • “He’s running… he heads into some nearby woods … bus…Leningrad train station… The police are everywhere… but there’s a festival…” (B, 09:17)
• Comic-relief and tension: Oleg’s fall from a train bunk, bleeding, in a tracksuit, scaring a fellow passenger.

MI6 Team's Ordeal

• Brits must skip the new ambassador’s party and drive through the night. Surveillance is omnipresent.
  • “There’s a kind of mix of fatalism and excitement…if they succeed, people are going to know it, there’s going to be trouble, and if they fail, they’re going to get caught…” (B, 11:29)
• “Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms in one of the cars… such a beautiful day you’d think nothing bad can happen.” (B, 12:30)
• Killing time at a monastery, orchestrating a precise rendezvous at a forest layby marked by a stone.

Rendezvous: Nerves and Nail-Biting Delay

• Gordievsky arrives four hours early, beset by mosquitoes, stress, and self-doubt, even going for a beer and chicken lunch to cope.
• The MI6 cars, bracketed by surveillance, exploit a lucky traffic stop (Soviet tanks passing) to lose their tails.
  • Quote: “A stroke of luck. Had lots of bad luck in this operation. Here’s a bit of good luck. All the cars on the highway are stopped for ten minutes because a convoy of tanks has to pass.” (B, 18:12)
• Oleg is finally bundled into the trunk, under a heat-reflecting blanket to evade sensors.

4. The Border Crossing: Improvisation and Luck (21:17–28:14)

• Apprehension at checkpoints: previous precedent allows boot searches, and Oleg’s “spy snuff” (to fool search dogs) was forgotten.
• Quick thinking: Mrs. Asquith distracts sniffer dogs with cheese and onion crisps, then a dirty diaper, causing the dog to slink off in disgust.
  • Quote: “That is not something they give you as a item of tradecraft, is a dirty nappy…” (B, 26:20)
• Crossing into Finland is marked by Sibelius’s “Finlandia” on the car stereo—a touching, symbolic release.
  • Quote: “…he hears the ominous, brooding opening notes of Sibelius’s Finlandia…that is the sign he understands he’s in Finland, he’s out.” (B, 27:43)
• Danish intelligence supports the final handoff, and miscommunications with London add a last touch of dark comedy.

5. Aftermath: Political Fallout and Life in Exile (30:52–36:27)

• The KGB is humiliated; the MI6 team is expelled from Moscow.

• Gordievsky is debriefed extensively, meeting both MI6 and CIA leadership.

  • Role-playing Reagan vs. Gorbachev with CIA Director Casey, relaying Soviet thinking directly to US leadership.
    • Quote: “Casey says, you know, you’re Mr. Gorbachev… and I’m Mr. Reagan. What about if we give you access to Star Wars? … Gordievsky leans back… ‘nyet. … I don’t trust you. You’ll never give us anything.’” (B, 32:53)

• Lasting influence: Gordievsky provides unprecedented insights into Soviet leadership psychology, directly advising Thatcher and Reagan.

6. The Human Cost: Personal Sacrifice (36:27–39:15)

• Gordievsky’s family is stranded for years in the USSR; attempts to negotiate their release repeatedly rebuffed by Moscow.
• When finally reunited in 1991, relationships are irreparably damaged. He’s never reconciled with his daughters.
• The moral ambiguity of espionage: betrayal—of nation, friends, and family.
  • Quote: “It was not just betraying the Soviet Union, but he betrayed me.” – Smiley Mike Lyubimov, on his friend Oleg (B, 39:15)
  • Quote: “To betray bandits was very good for the soul.” – Oleg Gordievsky, on betraying the KGB (B, 41:40)

7. The Later Years: Paranoia and Shadows (43:12–46:22)

• Gordievsky lives under threat, a KGB death sentence over him, and in his final years, possible Russian surveillance or threats remain a persistent worry—even after his death in 2025, authorities act with caution to avoid Russian exploitation of the news.

8. Legacy: Did It Matter? (47:13–51:43)

• The strategic consequence is clear: Gordievsky’s intelligence helped Western leaders better understand Soviet intentions, lowering the risk of catastrophic miscalculation.
  • Quote: “What intelligence does at its highest level is prevent… dangerous guesswork.” – Gordon Corera (B, 49:21)
• The hosts debate the unique value of having spies like Gordievsky as bridges between adversaries, and his place in Cold War espionage history.
  • Quote: “…at an absolutely tense, white hot point in the Cold War, there was somebody who was kind of sitting as almost a clandestine bridge between both sides…” – McCloskey (A, 51:02)

Memorable Quotes by Timestamp

• (00:12) – Oleg Gordievsky (via memoir): “I did not doubt the KGB would study every detail and I was anxious that they should find things ship shape.”
• (05:07) – Gordon Corera: “He decides to address the ceiling, knowing that there’s a bugging device…a note appears a few hours later under the door telling him which park they’d agreed to.”
• (18:12) – Gordon Corera: “A stroke of luck. Had lots of bad luck…Here’s a bit of good luck. All the cars…are stopped…because a convoy of tanks has to pass.”
• (26:20) – Gordon Corera: “That is not something they give you as a item of tradecraft, is a dirty nappy…”
• (27:43) – Gordon Corera: “He hears the ominous, brooding opening notes of Sibelius’s Finlandia…that is the sign he understands he’s in Finland, he’s out.”
• (32:53) – Oleg Gordievsky (recounted): “Casey says… you’re Mr. Gorbachev… and I’m Mr. Reagan. What about if we give you access to Star Wars? … Gordievsky leans back… ‘nyet. … I don’t trust you. You’ll never give us anything.’”
• (39:15) – Smiley Mike Lyubimov (via Corera): “It was not just betraying the Soviet Union, but he betrayed me.”
• (41:40) – Oleg Gordievsky: “The betrayal question is pointless because it was a criminal state, the most criminal element of the criminal state was the KGB, it was a gang of bandits. To betray bandits was very good for the soul.”
• (49:21) – Gordon Corera: “What intelligence does at its highest level is prevent… dangerous guesswork.”
• (51:02) – David McCloskey: “At an absolutely tense, white hot point in the Cold War, there was somebody who was kind of sitting as almost a clandestine bridge between both sides…”

Notable Moments & Storytelling Highlights

• Bugged conversation comedy: Addressing the KGB via the ceiling (05:07).
• Comic tension: Oleg, a bloodied jogger in a tracksuit, scaring passengers on a Soviet train (10:27–11:22).
• Improvised tradecraft: Cheese and onion crisps, and a dirty diaper, thwarting K9 detection at the Finnish border (25:04–26:20).
• Music as liberation: Sibelius’s “Finlandia” marking freedom (27:43).
• Strategic importance: Gordievsky’s direct lines to global leaders (32:53).
• Bittersweet resolution: The cost of betrayal—broken friendships and family ties (39:15–41:40).
• Legacy and risk: Even decades later, Russia’s “apostle of payback” remains a real threat (46:22).

Conclusion:

The episode stands as a gripping account of spycraft under pressure, the calculated luck of exfiltration, and the price paid by principled betrayal. Through vivid storytelling, rich historical context, and poignant personal vignettes, McCloskey and Corera remind listeners of the high stakes and lasting impact of Cold War espionage, and the towering legacy of Oleg Gordievsky—spy, defector, bridge between worlds.

[Raise a glass to Oleg, the long-distance runner who made it to the end.]