Russia

The Spy Who Started the Cold War

CLOAK AND DAGGER
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Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos by Getty

Igor Gouzenko was a lowly Soviet cipher clerk when he turned the world order upside down in 1945. Nobody could have predicted the espionage hysteria his defection would unleash.

PARIS—Timing is everything in the history of espionage. Geopolitical winds change. Allies become enemies and people once seen as friendly collaborators suddenly are cast as insidious secret agents.

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