Summary of Gordon Corera's Russians Among Us

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 The small band of Western spies in Moscow had learned to trust their instincts. They sensed something strange in the air on Sunday, as hard-liners seized power in a coup. The country’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, had been detained in the Crimea.

#2 In Moscow, the head of the First Chief Directorate, Leonid Shebarshin, was not one of the plotters. He had warned the new political leaders about the main enemy: the United States. He was frustrated that no one was listening.

#3 The KGB had two spies inside the American intelligence community. The American spy had been active for more than a decade but not even the KGB knew his real name. The pair were not the only spies the KGB had in America.

#4 The CIA officers sent out to spy on the coup began reporting back to their superiors. They realized their KGB minders were absent, and for the first time, they took the risk of meeting contacts quickly on street corners without the usual careful preparation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669366492

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Insights on Gordon Corera's Russians Among Us

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 22

Insights from Chapter 23

Insights from Chapter 24

Insights from Chapter 25

Insights from Chapter 26

Insights from Chapter 27

Insights from Chapter 28

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The small band of Western spies in Moscow had learned to trust their instincts. They sensed something strange in the air on Sunday, as hard-liners seized power in a coup. The country’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, had been detained in the Crimea.

#2

In Moscow, the head of the First Chief Directorate, Leonid Shebarshin, was not one of the plotters. He had warned the new political leaders about the main enemy: the United States. He was frustrated that no one was listening.

#3

The KGB had two spies inside the American intelligence community. The American spy had been active for more than a decade but not even the KGB knew his real name. The pair were not the only spies the KGB had in America.

#4

The CIA officers sent out to spy on the coup began reporting back to their superiors. They realized their KGB minders were absent, and for the first time, they took the risk of meeting contacts quickly on street corners without the usual careful preparation.

#5

In August 1991, protesters in Moscow took down the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the KGB, and replaced it with a statue of Lenin. The next day, staff at KGB headquarters were ordered to seal the doors.

#6

The CIA had been working against the Soviet Union for years, and in August 1991, their team on the ground sent cables detailing the coup in Moscow. But many officers had spent their entire career working against the Soviet target, and they were not sure how to deal with the new Russia.

#7

As the coup collapsed, Bearden summoned one of his officers into his office. Mike Sulick was a Bronx-born former marine who had served in Vietnam and had a PhD in Russian studies. He would eventually rise to be the head of the CIA’s clandestine service and a central figure in the intelligence war with Russia.

#8

The handover of the plans by their new boss stunned the hardened operatives of the KGB. They thought it was madness. The KGB was dead, but it would rise again as something else.

#9

On December 26, 1991, a married couple sat in a hotel room in Buffalo and watched as the flag of the Soviet Union was lowered for the last time. They wept. They had developed a nasty skin inflammation, and they were far away from home. Their long-term target was the KGB, but they