On Monday, 4 March 2019, Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old
daughter Yulia collapsed in the centre of Salisbury in Wiltshire.
Both were suffering the effects of A-234, a third-generation
Russian-manufactured military grade Novichok nerve agent. As three
suspects, all GRU officers, were quickly identified, it was also
established that the door handle to the Skripals' suburban home had
been contaminated with the toxin. Whilst the Skripals had lived in
the cathedral city for the past seven years, what Sergei's
neighbours did not know was that he had once been a colonel in the
Russian Federation's military intelligence service. Back in July
1996, he had been posted under diplomatic cover to Madrid where he
was subsequently cultivated by Pablo Miller, an MI6 officer
operating as a businessman under the alias Antonio Alvares de
Idalgo. Sergei's recruitment by Miller was one of many successes
achieved by Western agencies following the collapse of the Soviet
Bloc. These counter-intelligence triumphs had their origins in a
joint FBI/CIA project codenamed COURTSHIP which was based on the
rather risky tactic of making an approach to almost any identified
KGB or GRU officer, in almost any environment - a technique known
as a 'cold pitch'. It soon yielded results; within five years
COURTSHIP had netted about twenty assets. Codenamed FORTHWITH,
Sergei was betrayed in December 2001\. Arrested in 2004, he was
convicted of high treason in Russia, but was subsequently included
in a prisoner swap in July 2010 and brought to the UK. The journey
to the attempt on his life had begun. The Vienna spy swap was the
culmination of a CIA plan to free a specific individual, Gennadi
Vasilenko, who had been the Agency's key mole inside the KGB since
March 1979\. To acquire the necessary leverage, the FBI swooped on
a large network in the United States, bringing to an end a
surveillance operation, codenamed GHOST STORIES, that lasted ten
years. Anxious to avoid further embarrassment over the arrests,
Vladimir Putin personally authorised an exchange, unaware of
Vasilenko's true status. It was only after the transaction had been
completed, and two further Russian spies were exfiltrated from
Moscow, that the Kremlin learned of Vasilenko's value, and the
scale of the deception. For the very first time, a Russian
government had been persuaded to release four traitors and send
them to the West. The humiliation was complete. As _Spy Swap_
reveals, Putin's retribution would manifest itself in a quiet
Wiltshire market town.
General
Imprint: |
Frontline Books
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
April 2021 |
Authors: |
Nigel West
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156 x 28mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
202 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-5267-9213-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-5267-9213-3 |
Barcode: |
9781526792136 |
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