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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 30

69 pages · May 09, 2026 · Broad topic: Intelligence Operations · Topic: Cambridge Five Spy Ring · 69 pages OCR'd
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tost months, buf it musi have dcen then, probably in Moscow, t he was ‘debriefed“—a no do meticulous, laborious and wide- ranging interrogation. "On arriving in Moscow he had been put in a small flat overlook. ing the river, in the care of a fat old housekeeper whose main object, he told me, was to see how mpch food she could make him t. She was constantly scoldigf® him and cooking enough food for four people. He spent a good deal of time in confer- enacs with Russian Intelligence officers, but when he was free he roamed the city on foot, getting to know it. exploring the layout of its pattern of streets in the way be loved to do wilh a new city. “He was. I used to reflect, like a fictional secret agent, walk- ing everywhere and remember- ing everything he saw. He bad a phenomenal memory and a remarkable sense of direction. For reasons of their own, which I could not quite under- stand, the Russians kept us under very strict control. Guy Burgess, the man who had from early manhood shared most closely Kim's great clandestine love- affair with Russia, had died in a Moscow hospital that August —some six weeks before f[ arrived. Donald Maclean at- tended the funeral and delivered a brief oration, A drass band played the Imrernationale. Kim told me that he was not per- [ mitted to go, but [ later found rout that he saw Burgess very ‘briefly, as he lay dying in | hospital, . : Kim never complained of this | rigid discipline, but I suspect there were few things in life he would have liked more than a long, intimate, allusive dialogue with ‘ Burgess—like old times. ft might even have kept Burgess alive a littl: : longer. t Burgess legacy Burgess left his books an clothes to Kim but the rest of his possessions were to be divided be- tween ourselves and the Macleans. Kim had already taken a charming little dressing-table that had be- longed to Burgess’s mother, and a portative organ, a medieval instru- ment with a narrow, limited key- board. used in procewions, on which Guy used to bang out his favourfe Cambridge rowing songs. It now’ stood in a corner of our Moscow flat, but I could barely get a moan out of it, Te was broken-and I could never find anyone to mend Oe | — on all the events that had happened during those eight long months apart. He wanted to know in great detail about all his children and the difficulties I had encountered. But he said very litte about nim- self, except for his first impressions of Moscow, his dificuites ard 2x- periences in finding and furnishing one flat, which he described in his usual, very amusing way. Looking back on those early days I now realise that he told me very little of his own far mora dramatic experiences since leaving Beinn. eeting him then in Moscow, after so many months of separa- tion, I found to my great relief that it was not so Very different from meeting him ia Beirut after one of our long separations. He was the same lovable, completely charm- ing, sentimental man I adored. There was mo question or doubi at all that this feeling was completely mutual. However, a tiny strip of mo -man's- land had already ppeared between us which had not en there before. Almost the first serious thing wa did in my early days in Moscow was to si¢ down together and put on paper a detailed account of my experiences with the British and American security authorities in the months that f was alone. guessed this was information Kim's Russian friends wanted. I went over every detail I could think of in several long sessions. Biggest mistake \ These interrogations began to take the form of a grilling, with Kim getting me to repeat the same things over and over again. This went on for several days; and I was becoming extremely bored with the whole thing. Kim was patient, but unusually stubborm and insis- tent. It was only then that I con- fessed that I had had to take the British fully into my confidence and haw, from photographs provided by Y's chicf, [ had identified his mysterious Russian friend who had called on me that early May morn- ing in Beirut. That was perhaps the biggest mistake I made. But, as far as I was concerned, I had never kept anything from Kim, and therefore . saw no reason to do so now. My error was human, but I felt thar Kim was angry. Thanks to me, his wife, the Russians had fost a valu- able agent. ‘Whata pity!’ he said. “He was ans of my greatest friends and our best man in the area. His areer is finished.’ The barrier be- ween Us widened. I also reported to him what the ritish Intelligence chief bad said & - to me in London at our meeting in ih Y Y's apartment—that he had definitely known for seven years What Kim was working without pay for tht Russians. This seemed to interest Basrintensely, He mads me
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