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didn’t bother to search their cars at the border. Not entirely true. They had sniffer dogs going over all the cars, and Gordievsky was hiding in the boot of on
by kitd 4y ago
didn’t bother to search their cars at the border.
Not entirely true. They had sniffer dogs going over all the cars, and Gordievsky was hiding in the boot of one. The MI6 agents "accidentally" dropped a few cheese and onion crisps by the car, plus the baby of one just happened to fill her nappy at that moment and the agent changed it next to the car. The sniffer dogs didn't stand a chance.
FWIW, apparently that baby is now a senior curator at a major London art gallery.
- matthewdgreen 4y agoIt was an almost cartoonishly bad plan, and the book makes clear that everyone expected to be arrested at the border. They even had a letter of protest ready to go in case the guards opened the trunk, but nobody expected it would matter (except that of course the diplomats would eventually be expelled rather than imprisoned.) The border guards were “carefully searching the other cars” but ignored the British diplomats’ vehicles except for one pass with the dogs. Which is totally consistent with KGB incompetence and a desire not to kick off a diplomatic incident, but also totally absurd given that they had received positive intelligence that Gordievsky was working for the British and had deliberately shaken his tail.