The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

The author outlines the beginning of Gordievsky’s spying for MI6, from early 1975 to 1977. He starts by discussing the motivations for people to spy, dividing them into external and internal reasons. Gordievsky mostly had ideological reasons, as he saw through the hypocrisy of the Soviet system and wanted to work to help establish a true democracy one day for Russia. His relationship with his new MI6 handler, Philip Hawkins, however, lacked warmth. Gordievsky didn’t particularly like Hawkins personally or feel drawn to him as he had with Bromhead. However, he came to respect the handler’s professionalism.

Their first meeting alone was a bit rocky. Hawkins began by firing off questions as if Gordievsky was an enemy under interrogation; Gordievsky thought he’d be accepted more as a colleague and treated accordingly. Finally, he stopped Hawkins and attempted to lay out his terms for cooperation. First, he didn’t want to compromise any of his KGB colleagues in Denmark and put them in harm’s way; they themselves were pawns of the system, he argued. In addition, he demanded that Hawkins not record their conversations or secretly photograph him, and he indicated that he wanted no money—for him, this was a matter of principle.