Which Soviet GRU colonel acted as a double agent for the United States and United Kingdom, sharing crucial missile information?

• A. Oleg Penkovsky
• B. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
• C. Pentagon Papers
• D. Paris Charter (1990)

Answer: (A)

Oleg Penkovsky is the example you’re looking for. He was a colonel in the Soviet GRU who acted as a double agent for the United States and United Kingdom, secretly feeding them high-level information about Soviet missiles and military capabilities. His intelligence provided crucial insights into the deployment, reach, and status of Soviet strategic forces at a time when the West was trying to gauge how quickly the USSR could threaten with missiles. This information helped Western decision-makers form a clearer picture during a very tense period, including the Cuban Missile Crisis. Penkovsky’s actions were highly risky for him personally, and he was ultimately executed by the Soviet authorities in 1963. The other options aren’t spies or aren’t related to this specific information, which is why Penkovsky is the correct match.