The Spy in the Archive

How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB

Gordon Corera

The story of how one man—a librarian for the KGB—became a traitor to the intelligence agency, stealing the most prized Soviet-era archives and smuggling them to the West.

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 archives—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.

Historian and journalist 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 there, 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 nonfiction at its absolute best.

Gordon Corera is a security correspondent for BBC News. In that role, he covers the work of Britain's intelligence agencies. His documentary series 'MI6: A century in the Shadows' was broadcast in the summer of 2009. His series 'The Real Spooks' on MI5 was broadcast in December 2007. He was educated at Oxford and Harvard Universities and joined the BBC in 1997.   

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Endorsements & Reviews

"More than most Cold War thrillers, this true story offers genuine suspense—and genuine insight into Mitrokhin’s complex motivations. Mr. Corera is well-versed in the cloak-and-dagger world. His experience with the material lends weight to a thoroughly engrossing tale." The Wall Street Journal

"Corera’s real-life thriller tells the story of Vasili Mitrokhin, a K.G.B. archivist turned dissident, who used his unusual access to classified documents to expose state secrets. While the race to extricate the increasingly imperiled Mitrokhin from the Soviet Union is exciting, it’s Corera’s treatment of one man’s internal journey that really raises the stakes." The New York Times

“I’m a sucker for Cold War spy stories and The Spy in The Archive: How One Man Tried To Kill The KGB, by Gordon Corera, is a belter. A fascinating, gripping journalistic account of how a grey KGB archivist, and British asset, Vasili Mitrokhin literally stole the Kremlin's secrets from under their noses and passed then to MI6. The ultimate grey man whose impact is still felt today. Gripping.” Neil Lancaster Daily Express

“Corera conveys the dedication and uncertainty Mitrokhin faced and the discipline to carry on when hopes of publishing his horrific findings were extremely low. He deftly tells Mitrokhin’s life story and illuminates the valuable intelligence he brought to the West in a compelling narrative about standing up for justice and against tyranny.” Booklist, starred review

"Journalist Corera’s account is the kind of real-life espionage on which John le Carré based his spy novels. It is to Corera’s credit that he brings a journalist’s detailed narrative to historical events. A true-life spy thriller in relentlessly gruesome detail." Kirkus Reviews

“Novelistic and deeply researched, this propulsive account is a must for readers with a taste for espionage.” Publishers Weekly

“Corera, a former security correspondent for the BBC, tells the enthralling story of Vasili Mitrokhin, an unsuccessful Soviet spy whom the KGB demoted in 1956 to the role of archivist. Corera’s narrative traces Mitrokhin’s evolution from poor peasant boy to loyal KGB officer to passionate anti-KGB crusader and details his family’s exfiltration to Britain by MI6.” Foreign Affairs

Praise for Gordon Corera:

"Few are better versed in the intricacies of the continuing spy war between East and West.” Ben Macintyre, The Times (London)

"A lively and engrossing account of the FBI’s decade-long counterintelligence operation. Corera correctly notes that the U.S. and UK were slow to appreciate Russia’s malign intent once Putin became president. Offers a persuasive account of how Moscow had adapted its espionage toolkit. A compelling book that combines good storytelling with subtle understanding of spy methods old and new.” Luke Harding, The Observer