Book - The Spy and the Traitor - 19

Summay no. 19.

This is a real story.

Oleg’s transfer from “Directorate S” to the FCD—they both were KGB departments—didn’t go smoothly as expected. The head of Directorate S held Oleg back for unknown reasons. Word had it that he was jealous to have one of his men going to another department. It seemed to him a theft. That was when Oleg’s older brother, Vasili, came in and speeded things up. Though, he did so accidentaly. Vasili's job for Directorate S put him under such severe strain that he had taken to drinking. As a result, Vasili fell fatally victim to alcoholism. As it happened, Vasili had been one of Directorate S’ best agents.

Feeling in part responsible for Vasili’s death, the head of Directorate S finally approved Oleg’s transfer. Once Oleg had been fully integrated into the FCD, the USSR set about arranging his return in Denmark. They first applied for a Danish visa since Oleg would be officialy posted there as a Soviet diplomat. The Danes could’ve turned it down since they had long suspected he was a KGB agent. Yet they played along and issued the visa. The truth was, they’d been waiting for Oleg’s return. The Danes, along with the British, had reasons to believe that Oleg wasn’t the unquestioning, commited communist the KGB believed him to be. MI6 and PET (the Danish Security Service) prepared to give Oleg a “welcome back” to Copenhagen.