How Soviet Russia Conducted ‘Ideological Subversion’ in Western Nations

KGB spy who defected to Canada in 1970 exposed USSR’s ‘war of communist world aggression’

The coffin containing the remains of Yuri Andropov, former KGB chief and Soviet premier, is pulled through Moscow streets during his funeral on Feb. 13, 1984. Andropov called the Soviets’ strategy of ideological subversion in the West “the final struggle for the minds and hearts of the people.” AFP via Getty Images

The defection of Russian intelligence officer Igor Gouzenko, stationed at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa during and after the Second World War, is one of the highest-profile cases of defection in Canadian history—even said to be the event that triggered the Cold War.

Gouzenko exposed the extent of the Soviet spy network in the West at that time, including dictator Joseph Stalin’s efforts to steal nuclear secrets and the technique of infiltrating sleeper agents into target countries.