Oleg Adolfovich Lyalin (russian: Олег Адольфович Лялин; 24 June 1937 – 12 February 1995) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

who

defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

from the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

. His defection led to the expulsion of 105 Soviet officials suspected as being Soviet spies from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

on 25 September 1971. Lyalin was sent by the KGB to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in the 1960s, posing as an official with the Soviet Trade Delegation. His defection came about after he was arrested in London by policeman Charles Shearer for drunk driving in the early morning of 31 August 1971. He was put in jail immediately as he refused to cooperate with police and lacked diplomatic immunity. His bail of £50 was paid by the Soviet Trade Delegation but he was taken to a safe house by

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

and his drunk driving-case was eventually dropped as he decided to defect. He offered to disclose information about KGB activities in exchange for a new life with his (Russian) secretary, Irina Teplyakova, with whom he had begun an affair and took political asylum in August 1972. Lyalin later revealed that his mission was to spy across the Midlands while posing as a textile buyer, and that there was a plan to infiltrate agents disguised as official messengers into

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

's tunnel systems to distribute poison gas capsules. He also confirmed the existence of a section known as Department V ( :ru:Пятое управление КГБ СССР) in the KGB. The expulsion of 105 officials was the single biggest action taken against the Soviet Union by any western government.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conse ...

, foreign secretary at the time, was accused by the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

opposition of over-reaction. Lyalin was given a new identity by MI5 and married Teplyakova. He remained in hiding in northern England until his death on 12 February 1995 after a long illness.

References

1937 births 1995 deaths Admitted Soviet spies KGB officers Soviet intelligence personnel who defected to the United Kingdom People sentenced to death in absentia by the Soviet Union {{USSR-bio-stub

See also

References