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Live On Stage
Thursday May 28 2026, 7:30pm BST

Life and Death in the KGB, with The Rest is Classified’s Gordon Corera

As the main intelligence and security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991, the KGB instilled fear across Russia and sought to sow discord abroad. 

This network of government spies was notorious for the often brutal methods it used to keep  enemies, loyalists and common people under the thumb of the state. And far from fading as the USSR old guard fell from power, the operatives, methods and networks of the KGB remain at the heart of the Russian state today. Putin himself was a KGB officer for 16 years, including six years as a foreign intelligence officer stationed in Dresden, East Germany.

On May 28, veteran security correspondent and Rest is Classified co-host Gordon Corera joins us to unveil the inner workings of the KGB and the hidden power struggles that shaped modern Russia. Corera will explore the real-life stories of those on the inside; from the spies who lived and died enforcing its rule, to those who were brave enough to resist it.

Join us live at Conway Hall to hear how the influence and evolution of the KGB continues to shape Russia, and have your questions answered in the audience Q&A.

The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB (Paperback)
by Gordon Corera

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Event Name

Life and Death in the KGB, with The Rest is Classified’s Gordon Corera



Speaker
  • Gordon Corera

    Co-Host of The Rest is Classified and former Security Correspondent for BBC News

Speakers are subject to change.


Location
  • Conway Hall
  • 25 Red Lion Square
  • London
  • WC1R 4RL
Time
  • Thursday 28 May 2026
  • 7:30pm to 8:45pm BST





Speakers

Speaker

Gordon Corera

Co-Host of The Rest is Classified and former Security Correspondent for BBC News


Journalist and author specializing in security and intelligence issues. He is the co-host with David McCloskey of the Goalhanger Podcast The Rest is Classified. He joined the BBC in 1997 and in 2004 he was appointed a Security Correspondent for BBC News covering terrorism, cyber security, the work of intelligence agencies and other national security issues. He has reported from across the United States, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and presented programmes focusing on intelligence agencies including MI6, MI5, GCHQ, the CIA, NSA and Mossad as well as issues relating to technology and security and the 2003 Iraq war. He is the author of a number of books; his latest is The Spy in the Archive.

Speakers are subject to change.