Codename Hero - Soviet double agent Oleg Penkovsky (175)

Cold War Conversations

In August 1960, a Soviet colonel called Oleg Penkovsky contacted the West to offer to work as a 'soldier warrior for the free world. MI6 and the CIA ran Penkovsky jointly, in an operation that ran through the showdown over Berlin and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

He provided crucial intelligence, including photographs of rocket manuals that helped Kennedy end the Cuba crisis and avert a war. Codenamed HERO, Penkovsky is widely seen as the most important spy of the Cold War, and the CIA-MI6 operation, run as the world stood on the brink of nuclear destruction.

We speak with Jeremy Duns, the author of Dead Drop also called Codename Hero in the US which investigates exactly how did the Russians detect Penkovsky, and why did they let him continue his contact with his handlers for months afterwards? Described as thrilling, evocative and hugely controversial, the book blows apart the myths surrounding one of the Cold War's greatest spy operations.

Extra info, book details and videos are here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode175/

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I am delighted to welcome Jeremy Duns to our Cold War conversation…

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0:00 Introduction and guest - Jeremy Duns

2:33 The story of Soviet Colonel Oleg Penkovsky and his disillusionment with the Soviet Union

10:17 The intelligence Penkovsky provided to MI6 and CIA and its impact

23:30 The lack of satellite cover over the Soviet Union and Penkovsky's methods of passing information

30:06 The complications and aftermath of Penkovsky's discovery and his influence on the Cuban Missile Crisis

36:00 Arrests of Penkovsky and Greville Wynn, Wynn's trial and sentence

42:31 The fate of Oleg Penkovsky and how he was betrayed

45:32 DCode Name Hero: books on Oleg Pankovsky

46:07 Sponsor: Acknowledging patron support

46:58 End of episode and thanks to listeners

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