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Putnam
February 2008
On Sale: January 28, 2008
352 pages ISBN: 0399154396 EAN: 9780399154393 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Spymaster, defector, double agent-the remarkable true story
of the man who ran Russia's post-Cold War spy program in
America. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, the Cold War ended, and
a new world order began. We thought everything had changed.
But one thing never changed: the spies. From 1997 to 2000, a man known as "Comrade J" was the
highest-ranking operative in the SVR-the successor agency to
the KGB-in the United States. He directed all Russian spy
action in New York City, and personally oversaw every covert
operation against the United States and its allies in the
United Nations. He recruited spies, planted agents,
penetrated security, manipulated intelligence, and
influenced American policy, all under the direct leadership
of Boris Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin. He was a legend in
the SVR, the man who kept the secrets. Then in 2000, he defected-and it turned out he had one more
secret. For the previous two years, he had also been a
double agent for the FBI: "By far the most important Russian
spy that our side has had in decades." He has never granted
a public interview. The FBI and CIA have refused to answer
all media questions about him. He has remained in hiding. He
has never revealed his secrets . . . Until now. Comrade J, written by the bestselling author of Family of
Spies and The Hot House, is his story, a direct account of
what he did in the U.S. after we all assumed the spying was
over, and of what Putin and Russia continue to do today. The
revelations are stunning. It is also the story of growing up
in a family of agents dating back to the revolution; of how
Russia molded him into one of its most high-flying
operatives; of the day-to-day perils of living a double,
then triple, life; and finally of how his growing disquiet
with the corruption and ambitions of the "new Russia" led
him to take the most perilous step of all. Many spies have told their stories. None has the astonishing
immediacy, relevance, and cautionary warnings of Comrade J.
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