‘I’m in great danger – you have to get me out immediately!’ The dramatic escape of Russian superspy turned defector ‘Redwood’ from under the noses of the KGB
Ben Macintyre's book recounts the dramatic 1982 defection of Vladimir Kuzichkin, a KGB officer stationed in Iran under the codename "Redwood," who had secretly begun spying for Britain's MI6. Kuzichkin's initial motivation was reportedly the hope that Western doctors could treat his sexual impotence, but as his posting neared its end MI6 tried to persuade him to stay embedded within the KGB rather than defect immediately, promising doubled pay and a future escape plan from Moscow. His eventual panicked flight illustrates the immense psychological toll of running a double agent inside a hostile intelligence service, and the story offers rare insight into Cold War-era espionage tradecraft.
Kuzichkin's MI6 handler, Ian McCredie, had struck a deal for him to remain in place and continue supplying intelligence after leaving Iran, but the strain proved unbearable — he was drinking heavily, sleeping badly and suffering recurring nightmares. When a cipher clerk mentioned that a security team was being sent from Moscow to tighten embassy procedures, Kuzichkin feared exposure and telephoned McCredie using a pre-arranged emergency code, demanding immediate exfiltration from Iran to the UK. McCredie, who had already scouted a weakness in border security for such a contingency, prepared to extract him under the noses of the KGB and Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
- KGB officer "Redwood" secretly defected to MI6 while posted in Iran.
- Extreme stress led him to demand immediate emergency extraction in 1982.
- His handler had a pre-planned escape route across the Iranian border.
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The 1980s were a tense period in the Cold War, when Britain’s intelligence service MI6 sought to recruit Soviet officials as secret informants against the KGB, the Soviet Union’s powerful spy agency. Such double agents risked their lives if discovered, and extracting them safely from hostile territory required careful, secretive planning by their handlers.
Vladimir Kuzichkin was a KGB officer working undercover in Iran who, under the codename “Redwood”, began passing information to MI6. His British contact was an MI6 officer named Ian McCredie, who ran him as a source while trying to keep him embedded within Soviet intelligence for as long as possible, before his defection became urgent and dangerous.
The episode is documented in a book by writer Ben Macintyre and matters because it sheds light on how Western intelligence agencies operated double agents inside rival services during the Cold War, and on the personal strain such secret work placed on those involved.