This is an extraordinary story of espionage, betrayal and an unlikely friendship between spies on opposite sides - and of a man who risked his life and shaped the course of history, for a deeply personal and unlikely reason. In 1981, Washington feared a Soviet takeover of Iran could trigger military intervention and potentially a nuclear war. A KGB officer - Vladimir Kouzichkin - was stationed in revolutionary Iran. He was codenamed Agent Redwood and worked with British intelligence to expose the Soviet Union's operations in Iran... in exchange for a cure to a very private medical problem.

Ben McIntyre's new book is called Redwood: The Most Extraordinary Spy of the Cold War and is out now!

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.

Listen to The Iranian Embassy Siege with Ben Macintyre:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Yn4pGGxsG1YLI90kf4UkM?si=sUB3ShdzQiGEDeEj9fyBNg

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/the-iranian-embassy-siege-with-ben-macintyre/id1042631089?i=1000670522326

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The KGB Double Agent Who Stopped Armageddon with Ben McIntyre

Dan Snow's History Hit

The KGB Double Agent Who Stopped Armageddon with Ben McIntyre