List of Famous Spys

Hans-Joachim Tiedge was a head of West Germany's counter-intelligence in the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in Cologne. He was revealed to be an East German spy when he defected to the East on August 19, 1985. He had been recruited by Markus Wolf. In the four years prior to his defection, he was responsible tor tracking down East German spies, but with little success. In the same period, the East Germans captured 168 West German spies. He was thought to have defected for personal reasons, as he had not, apparently, been discovered. His treachery was called the most damaging of the Cold War for the Federal Republic of Germany, resulting in the recall of numerous West German agents still in the field and plunging the West German counterespionage service into ruins.

Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich was a Soviet NKVD Operative between 1937 and 1953, when he took a leading role in assassinating Communist and Bolshevik individuals who were not loyal to Joseph Stalin.

Ryszard Jerzy Kukliński was a Polish colonel and Cold War spy for NATO. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of brigadier general by Polish President Andrzej Duda. Kukliński passed top secret Soviet documents to the CIA between 1972 and 1981, including the Soviet plans for the invasion of Western Europe. The former United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński described him as "the first Polish officer in NATO."

Larry Wu-tai Chin was a Chinese Communist spy who worked for the United States Government for 37 years (1944–1981), including positions at the U.S. Army and the CIA, while secretly being a mole for the Communist Party's intelligence apparatus from the very beginning. He kept passing classified documents and secret information to the People's Republic of China even after his retirement, until he was finally exposed in 1985.

Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov is a Russian former KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for eleven years. He was the head of the Presidential Security Service (PSB) from 1991 to 1996, State Duma deputy from 2007 to 2011, and retired Lieutenant-general. Korzhakov had been Yeltsin's bodyguard since 1985, and on 19 August 1991, he stood next to his boss on top of a tank during Yeltsin's historic speech.

Paul Reckzeh was a physician and Gestapo spy who at the end of 1943 betrayed the members of the Solf Circle, which he had joined while claiming to be a Swiss doctor. His betrayal led to the imprisonment and death of many Solf Circle members.

Yakov Grigoryevich Blumkin was a Left Socialist-Revolutionary, a Bolshevik and an agent of the Cheka and the State Political Directorate (GPU).

Vera Schalburg was a Soviet, German and British agent and sister of Christian Frederik von Schalburg.

Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin is a doctor in the Russian General Staff′s Main Directorate, the military intelligence service of the Russian Federation.

Mikhail Isaakovich Mukasei was a Soviet spy codenamed Zephyr.