193. The KGB in Iran: Defecting to MI6 with Ben Macintyre (Ep 1)
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What is the story behind the KGB officer known as Agent Redwood?
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KGB officer is recruited by MI6 in Iran at a time of revolutionary upheaval. His intelligence helped shape the Cold War. But how far is Agent Redwood motivated by some rather personal difficulties? Well, welcome to the Rest is Classified. I'm David McCloskey. And I'm Gordon Carrera. And welcome to a very special series as we delve into the amazing story. Of an MI6 agent known as Redwood. His real name is Russian, Vladimir Anatolovich Kuzychkin. He's a man who embodies I think it's fair to say some of the very complex human motivations uh of those who end up spying for other countries. I would wager that Kuzychkin's name is not particularly well known among uh espionage history aficionados. The story's pretty shadowy up until this point, but the amazing tale has finally come out, or is coming out, hasn't it, Gordon?
That's right. Thanks to the The writer Ben McIntyre, author of many wonderful books, including on Gordievsky as as well as others, Second World War onwards, and the author of the new book, Redwood, which is out now. And we're very pleased to say Ben is with us to talk about this story. Welcome, Ben. Delighted to be here. It is a very unusual story, it's fair to say. So we kind of teased at the top. Come for the spying, stay for the discussion of erectile dysfunction. We shall get to that later. It's a fascinating story, Ben. Which is amazing as a human drama, but also I guess even resonates up to today in terms of Iran and its importance.
Yes, I mean it has huge and to me when I started this project, entirely unexpected modern echoes. Um some of the main characters in this story on the Iranian side are the same people who are still in control in Tehran. And and this in a way is the origin story, one of the origin stories of the Iranian regime. It is one of the reasons why the Iranian regime is the way it is today. is down to this one spy. And it's uh in a way that's why I love this story, is it's both it has both a kind of huge macro significance. It's a it's it is a globally important story. That's that's something, as you guys well know, that you can't say of many spies, that they actually change strategically change the dials of history.
But Redwood really does, and yet it boils down in a way to a highly personal, very private, very secret. personal problem that he himself had. So it combines I loved writing it because it combines both the human and the global political in a way that is is when it happens in spy world, pretty magical.
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So then I mean maybe we start with the human. Can you set up who Redwood was? Is who is this Vladimir Kuzichki?
Kuzychkin was a classic recruit to the KGB, or appeared to be in the 1960s. His, you know, he his his father, or the man he thought was his father, was a KGB officer.
How did Vladimir Kuzychkin’s childhood and family background shape his spy career?
He'd been brought up in that very closed, rather privileged world of a Soviet KGB family.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the story behind the KGB officer known as Agent Redwood?
0:03–4:34
2
How did Vladimir Kuzychkin’s childhood and family background shape his spy career?
4:34–9:55
3
Why was Kuzychkin recruited to the KGB’s illegal‑operations department and what did that role involve?
9:55–16:58
4
What was the political and spy‑war environment in Iran during the late 1970s?
16:58–23:51
5
How did personal health problems, especially erectile dysfunction, drive Kuzychkin toward defection?
23:51–29:27
6
What was the secret meeting that led Kuzychkin to approach MI6 and how did it happen?
29:27–35:50
7
Why was the codename “Redwood” chosen for the agent and what does it reveal about intelligence naming conventions?
35:50–41:21
8
What are the lasting implications of Kuzychkin’s defection for Cold‑War espionage and modern intelligence work?
41:21–44:59