Life and Death in the KGB, with The Rest is Classified’s Gordon Corera (Part One)
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Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Sorrenti. Today's episode is part one of our recent live event, with co-host of the Restors Classified and former security correspondent for BBC News, Gordon Carrera. Carrera joined Sean Walker at Conway Hall to discuss life and death in the KGB. As the main intelligence and security agency of the Soviet Union from nineteen fifty four to nineteen ninety one, the KGB instilled fear across Russia.
and so to sow discord abroad. This network of government spies was notorious for the often brutal methods it used to keep enemies, loyalists, and common people under the thumb of the state. And far from fading as the USSR old guard fell from power, the operatives, methods, and networks of the KGB remain at the heart of the Russian state today. Putin himself was a KGB officer for sixteen years. Including six years as a foreign intelligence officer stationed in Dresden, East Germany.
Drawing on the stories of spies, defectors and dissidents, Carrera explores how the Soviet Union's most feared intelligence agency operated, why its methods and networks continue to shape modern Russia. Let's join our host, Sean Walker, now live at Conway Hall. Hi, everyone, uh good evening and welcome to this intelligence squared events. Uh, I'm Sean Walker and I'm delighted to be here tonight. Uh with Gordon Carrera.
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