The KGB in Iran: Defecting to MI6 with Ben Macintyre (Ep 1)
September 13, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readThe KGB officer Vladimir Kozitchkin walked into the British Embassy in Tehran in 1981 and asked to see the ambassador. He was a six-foot-four, handsome, high-flying Soviet intelligence officer in charge of running illegals—deep-cover agents—across the Middle East. He was also, he confessed within minutes of his first secret meeting with an MI6 officer in a bathroom with the taps running to defeat bugs, suffering from erectile dysfunction. He believed Western medicine could cure him. In exchange, he would spy for Britain for a year, then defect with his wife to the West. The story of how he became MI6's Agent Redwood—and how his intelligence reshaped the Cold War and the Iranian regime—is the subject of Ben Macintyre's new book Redwood, and the first episode of The Rest Is Classified.
The KGB Man Who Was Never Quite Soviet
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:17) **The Unlikely Spy: Redwood’s Secret Motivation** - Ben Macintyre introduces the story of KGB officer Vladimir Kozichkin, code-named Redwood, whose defection to MI6 was driven by a deeply personal medical crisis.
- 2 (04:17) **Who Was Redwood? The Making of a KGB Officer** - Macintyre describes Kozichkin’s background, from his elite KGB training to his growing disillusionment with the Soviet system.
- 3 (10:48) **The Crucible of Revolutionary Iran** - Kozichkin is posted to Tehran in 1977, just as the Shah’s regime is about to be overthrown, creating a volatile and dangerous spy war.
- 4 (18:41) **The Nuts and Bolts of KGB Operations** - Macintyre details the specific, high-stakes tradecraft Kozichkin used to run his spy network in revolutionary Tehran.
- 5 (24:42) **The Breaking Point: Ideology Meets Impotence** - Kozichkin’s disillusionment with the Soviet Union deepens, but his primary motivation to defect stems from a devastating personal crisis: erectile dysfunction.
- 6 (29:29) **The Organist and the Walk-In** - A chance encounter with an MI6 officer playing the organ at a wedding plants the seed in Kozichkin’s mind, leading him to walk into the British Embassy.
- 7 (35:42) **The Bathroom Meeting** - Young MI6 officer Ian McCready must assess the walk-in, fearing it’s a trap, and conducts a surreal first meeting in a bathroom to avoid listening devices.
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Show Notes
A 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?
Listen as David and Gordon are joined by renowned author and journalist, Ben Macintyre, to discuss his latest book: Redwood.
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