Oleg Gordievsky is arguably the highest-ranking KGB defector ever. The former KGB colonel became a double agent for Britain from 1974 to 1985, providing hugely valuable information which not least prevented nuclear war when the Soviets misinterpreted a Nato exercise as a potential first strike.  He was also one of the first to identify Mikhail Gorbachev as a potential future leader of the Soviet Union. In mid-1985 Gordievsky, who had various codenames including Sunbeam, Nocton and Tickle, was suddenly called back to Moscow.  On his arrival home, he was drugged and interrogated. The Soviets did not have enough evidence to…

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