Oleg Kalugin
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Oleg Danilovich Kalugin (born 1934) is a former KGB spy.
Born in Leningrad, Kalugin learned English and joined the KGB. After training he was sent to the United States, where he enrolled as a journalism student at Columbia University in 1958. He continued to pose as a journalist for a number of years, eventually serving as the Radio Moscow correspondent at the United Nations. Rising in the ranks he became one of the KGB's top agents operating out of the Soviet embassy in Washington. A close ally of Yuri Andropov he returned to the USSR he became head of Line KR, an important counter-intelligence position.
In 1980 Kalugin was demoted to a minor position in the Leningrad office. He states that this was because of his growing condemnation of the corruption of the KGB and the entire Soviet system. His critics, including most of the surviving members of the KGB, allege that he was seen as a security risk and suspected as acting for the CIA. Vladimir Kryuchkov, later director of the KGB has alleged that in his time in counter intelligence he failed to discover a single American agent while his successor would find over a dozen. He was also blamed for compromising several important agents, most notably Karl Koecher, the only mole to ever penetrate the CIA.
Kalugin continued to argue his accusers were merely conservatives opposed to his reformist outlook. With the rise of the reformists under Gorbachev Kalugin was rehabilitated. In 1990 he was elected to the Chamber of People's Deputies and then played an important role in transforming the KGB after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
With the return to power of elements of the KGB, most notably Vladimir Putin, Kalugin was again been accused of treason. In 1997 he relocated permanently to the United States citing concern for his own safety. Settling in Washington D.C. he has written a book about Cold War espionage titled Spymaster: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West and cowrote another book titled Spycraft with former CIA director William Colby. He has appeared frequently in the media, given lectures at a number of universities, and even served a consultant on an espionage themed video game. He also became an American citizen.
In 2002 he was put on trial in absentia in Moscow and found guilty of spying for the west. He was sentenced to fourteen years in jail, but the United States has refused to extradite him.