Discovering your husband is a KGB spy (289)

Cold War Conversations

The second part of Svetlana’s story starts shortly after her arrival in West Germany with her husband Oleg who is the Chief Editor of the Russian Service of Radio Liberty a CIA-financed station beaming Western propaganda into the Soviet Union. Listen to the previous episode here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode288/

To Svetlana’s horror, Oleg reveals that he has been working for the KGB for 14 years. Svetlana is now trapped. She is in a quandary. Should she betray the man she loves and risk the wrath of the KGB or should she stay loyal to her husband?

Loyalty wins out and she is invited by the Americans to teach Russian to intelligence officers and later becomes assistant to the commander at the US Army Intelligence Institute in Munich.

However, in 1986 Oleg disappears and leaves Svetlana on her own in West Germany. At a press conference in Moscow, he reveals his espionage and suspicion falls on Svetlana…

0:00 Introduction and background of Svetlana's story

5:34 Discussion about Oleg's recruitment into the KGB and his role as a spy

15:18 Svetlana's job with the Americans and the impact on their relationship

24:06 Lie detector test and its implications for Oleg

31:02 The pressures of leading a double life and Oleg's subsequent disappearance

40:50 Svetlana's actions and the aftermath of Oleg's disappearance

46:58 Oleg's return to Munich, American secret investigations, and the disagreement with Germans

55:23 Oleg's encounters with Vladimir Putin and his subsequent help

58:47 Oleg's arrest, trial, and prison sentence

1:03:29 Oleg's life post-prison and his encounters with the FBI and family in the United States

1:07:34 Transition to life in Moscow and political involvement with "John Wood"

1:08:04 Episode extras and thanking financial supporters

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