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The illegals Russia's most audacious spies and their century-long mission to infiltrate the West

"A century ago, the new Bolshevik government began sending Soviet citizens abroad as deep-cover spies, training them to pose as foreign aristocrats, merchants, and students. Over time, this became the most ambitious espionage program in human history. Many intelligence agencies use undercover operat...

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Main Author: Walker, Shaun (Journalist) (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2025
Edition:First hardcover edition.
Subjects:
Espionage, Soviet > History.
Espionage, Russian > History.
Spies > Soviet Union > History.
Spies > Russia (Federation) > History.
Soviet Union > Relations > Western countries.
Western countries > Relations > Soviet Union.
Russia (Federation) > Relations > Western countries.
Western countries > Relations > Russia (Federation)
Informational works.
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Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • A note on sources and terminology
  • PART ONE: The first illegals
  • Roots : the Bolshevik underground
  • The old man : the first head of Soviet foreign intelligence
  • The fast flier : the greatest of the great illegals
  • The terror : Stalin's purges
  • PART TWO: War and Cold War
  • Inroads to America : the first illegals in the United States
  • Operation Duck : the assassination of Leon Trotsky
  • Operation Barbarossa : Hitler invades the Soviet Union
  • The whistler : undercover in Nazi Germany
  • Early infiltrations : the Cold War begins
  • Signor Ambasciatore : the mission to kill Tito
  • The illegals go public : the trial of Rudolf Abel and the CIA's attempts to create illegals
  • PART THREE: The story of an illegal
  • Origin : the recruitment and training of an illegal
  • Matchmaking : the search for a partner and co-illegal
  • Infiltration : entering the West
  • Operation Progress : undermining the Prague Spring
  • The mobile resident : on assignment in Israel
  • PART FOUR: Cold War battle fronts
  • The Baron von Hohenstein : undercover in West Germany
  • The main enemy : spying on the Americans
  • The inheritor : the attempt to create a second-generation illegal
  • Diminishing returns : the KGB keeps going
  • Eleven days in Kabul : a secret coup and the birth of the "fighting illegal"
  • PART FIVE: Collapse and resurrection
  • The threat of war : rising tensions and new illegals
  • The end : the collapse of the Soviet Union
  • Stierlitz takes over : the rise of Vladimir Putin
  • Operation Ghost Stories : the FBI swoops
  • The virtual illegals : election meddling and easy deniability
  • The lives of wonderful people : the cult of the illegal
  • Afterword
  • KGB terminology and structure
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index.

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