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The Storm Birds: Soviet Post-War Defectors
The Storm Birds Soviet Post-War Defectors Author:Gordon Brook-Shepherd Based on research that includes interviews with several defectors, Brook-Shepherd tells the sagas of the 12 most prominent Soviet diplomatic and military-intelligence officers who have sought asylum in the West since 1945. Family background, character and motivation for defection are the author's primary interests. Yuri Rastvorov, for exampl... more »e, regarded defection as a way to fulfill his hedonistic dreams (as well as escape his detested wife); Oleg Penkovsky acted from an ambition to become the greatest spy in history. Brook-Shepherd ( The Storm Petrels ) argues convincingly that Penkovsky, suspected by experts in the West of being a KGB "stool pigeon," was a genuine defector.« less