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Dossier No. 07 · Ego — wounded pride

Operation Ironbark

The man who saved the world

classified
Protagonist
Oleg Penkovsky
Period
1961-1962
Nature
Defection
Main location
Moscow, USSR · Russia
MICE motive
Ego — wounded pride

A GRU colonel frustrated in his career, Penkovsky handed MI6 and the CIA the manuals for the Soviet SS-4/SS-5 missiles. His intelligence allowed Kennedy to manage the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). Arrested and executed in 1963.

On the ground

  • Moscow
  • London
  • Havana / Cuba

Route: Moscow → London · Moscow → Havana

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