All language subtitles for Damian.Lewis-Spy.Wars.S01E03.The.Spies.Next.Door.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE-enhi

(dramatic music)

Lewis: July 2010, and four
american spies stand

On the airport tarmac.

After years of imprisonment,

They are just
moments from freedom.

(dramatic music)

They are there to be traded

For 10 deep-cover
russian agents,

Being sent home after a lifetime
of deception in the west.

(camera clicking)
(dramatic music)

On the surface, it's an
old-fashioned spy swap.

In reality, it's anything but.

This is a story of
loyalty, betrayal and revenge.

More than a return to the
dark forces of the cold war,

It marks the beginning of a
new era of global espionage,

With russia's
spymaster at its heart.

(crowd applauding)

(cannon firing)

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

(cameras clicking)
(murmuring)

Lewis: In the full glare of
the media spotlight,

President obama of
the united states

And president medvedev of
russia put their signatures

To a new nuclear arms
reduction treaty.

The white house hoped this
moment would mark an end

To eight years of tension.

And always watching
was the man responsible

For that tension: The former
and future russian president,

Vladimir vladimirovich putin.

(camera clicking)

Leon panetta was cia
director at the time.

(dramatic music)

Panetta: There was no question

That even though
medvedev was president,

(camera clicking)

That putin was still the
power behind the throne.

(camera clicking)

If you wanna know putin, know
that he is a former kgb agent.

He will always work
the angles to make sure

That russian interests
are protected.

Lewis: For putin and
the svr, russia's successor

To the kgb, the cold
war wasn't over.

For him, a deadly spy
war was in full swing.

Panetta: The reality is that
there's a long history

Of russians trying
to place their spies

In the united states.

The united states spend an
awful lot of time trying

To determine where
those spies are

And where they're located.

Lewis: And in
April 2010, even as obama

And medvedev were
speaking of a new era

In east-west relations, the
fbi had been passed information

Of a sinister russian plot,

Which would shock
america to its core.

(railroad crossing bell ringing)

The fbi's focus was on a young

And seemingly entirely
ordinary american couple:

(camera clicking)

Cynthia and richard murphy
of montclair, new jersey.

(camera clicking)

Liz lapin was their neighbor.

(camera clicking)

Lapin: She was very charming
and fun to talk to.

She would always be
outside at the weekends

With her short shorts,
and doing the gardening.

He was such an enigma.

I used to wonder why is
he such a strange guy?

Lewis: Cynthia murphy
was the family's bread winner,

Working in the finance
scene of upstate new york.

(camera clicking)

Richard murphy was
a stay-at-home dad,

Looking after their
two young daughters.

(camera clicking)

Lapin: And I'd see her coming
home, she'd take a bus

Across the road here
every day from work.

I had thought, "oh, I should
talk to her about investing."

"Oh, maybe we should discuss
what stocks she likes

"to invest in."
(camera clicking)

Lewis: But the murphys'
wholesome all-american image

Was an elaborate facade.

Frank figliuzzi went on

To become the fbi's
assistant director

For counterintelligence.

(camera clicking)

Figliuzzi: Richard and cynthia
murphy were a married couple,

But married only per
instructions and arrangement

By the russian svr, the
russian intelligence service.

(camera clicking)

Lewis: The
murphys from new jersey

Were really vladimir
and lydia guryev,

Trained members of russia's
foreign intelligence service.

(camera clicking)

They were illegals:
Deep cover agents,

Who had assumed false identities
to enter the united states.

Figliuzzi: These illegals lived
like you or I would live,

Except for what I
call the big lie.

The big lie being that they
were leading a double life,

They had another agenda.

They were not what
they appeared to be.

Their children, their homes,

Their lives were
mere cover positions

For their real purpose in
life, which was to work

Against us interests on behalf

Of the russian
intelligence service.

Lewis: The guryevs' goal
was to pass themselves off

As true american patriots,

To embed themselves
completely in us society.

(dramatic music)

Alexander vassiliev
was a kgb operative.

Vasiliev: The idea of sending
them to america was

To use them as talent spotters.

(camera clicking)

They would be joining
clubs, scientific societies,

Political organizations, in
order to meet interesting

And influential people and
become friends with them.

And then pass
information about them

To the center, to moscow.

Lewis: Such was the
unique skillset of an illegal,

Each was hand-picked
from the elite students

At russia's notorious spy
school known as the institute.

This was an establishment run

By the mysterious
directorate s of the svr,

And was attended by, among
others, alexander vassiliev.

Vasiliev: I believe they
select people

From the red banner institute,
from the high school

Where I was a cadet in 1980s.

The school is
training legal spies

Who will be working as
diplomats and journalists.

They will take this
person from the school

And put him on a
special program.

Lewis: Agents were
trained to talk, think and act,

Even subconsciously,
like regular americans.

Some say muttering russian
in one's sleep was grounds

For a promising
recruit's dismissal.

(plane humming)

After years of training,

Vladimir and lidiya guryev
were dispatched to the us

As richard and cynthia
murphy. (camera clicking)

In the mid-1990s,

They befriended their
new jersey neighbors,

Started a family and embarked
on a life of deception.

(railroad crossing bell ringing)

Vasiliev: They are illegals,

They don't have
diplomatic immunity,

They are not even journalists,

So if they get arrested,
that's a big problem for them.

(railroad crossing bell ringing)

Lewis: Their
cover was so deep,

They should have been
impossible to detect.

Sipher: Uncovering illegals
or illegals networks

Is the hardest thing a

Counterintelligence
service can do.

Lewis: John sipher ran
the cia's russia operations

For the national
clandestine service.

Sipher: It's not the
kind of thing

That our
counterintelligence services

Can just stumble across.

I think when you look back
over sort of the history

Of spy cases and spies
that have been uncovered,

You'll find that almost in
every case there's a source

On the other side that
gave us information.

Lewis: In early
2000, the russian illegals

Were betrayed to the
cia by an agent believed

To be high up in directorate s.

Panetta: Without getting
into the details,

Which are classified,

The source was someone
who was credible

And was in a position
to know just exactly

What was being done
in russia to try

To establish these spies
here in this country.

(camera clicking)

Lewis: Although his
name was not disclosed

At the time, the cia's
source was later revealed

To be colonel aleksandr poteyev.

Augustyn: Poteyev, being
deputy head of

Directorate s in the svr,

He had incredible access.

He knew who these people were,
he knew their real names,

He knew why they were there
and what they were doing.

Lewis: But what
poteyev revealed

About the russian illegals
program sent shockwaves

Through the agency, because
the murphys of montclair,

New jersey, were
not operating alone.

(dramatic music)

They were part of a
deep cover spy ring

Of 10 russian agents, who
over the previous decade

Had systematically infiltrated
some of america's most secure

And well-to-do neighborhoods.

Figliuzzi: We saw a placement of
these illegals literally

Across the continental
united states,

From new jersey to
boston, massachusetts,

To seattle, washington.

This was a continent-wide
effort to place and penetrate,

With intelligence
officers, our society.

In my 25-year career in the
fbi, there was no precedent

For something of this magnitude.

(traffic humming)

Lewis: The illegals
spy ring had been unearthed

By the cia, but it would be

The fbi's counterintelligence
unit who'd run them to ground.

Figliuzzi: The us intelligence
unit had one goal:

To disrupt the operation
and to defeat the operation.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: The fbi
codenamed the investigation

Operation ghost stories
(camera bleeping)

And initiated round
theclock surveillance

On suspects across the
continental united states.

(camera bleeping)

Figliuzzi: The fbi coverage and
penetration of each

And every one of
these sleepers' homes

And lives was pervasive
and comprehensive.

(dramatic music)

We literally owned
these operatives,

We understood what they
drank, what they ate,

What they smoked and
when they did it.

(dramatic music)

Goodman: The end game for the
fbi in a case like the illegals,

Is to see how far
that network extends,

Who is pulling the strings,
who is controlling them.

Lewis: The decade-long
surveillance would become one

Of the longest running
counter-espionage operations

In fbi history.

Figliuzzi: You can imagine that
this involved, at some points,

Almost every field
office in the fbi.

It all helped contribute to a
complete total understanding

And control of the
russian operation.

Lewis: What the fbi
couldn't know was

That unmasking
the sleeper agents

Would later inspire a deadly
revenge from the kremlin.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: By now, the fbi's
operation ghost stories

Was focused firmly

On the man they believed
was the ringleader

Of the russian illegals:

(camera clicking)

Richard murphy, the
stay-at-home dad

From montclair, new jersey.

Fbi surveillance footage
revealed him engaging

In fleeting information
exchanges known as brush passes

With his svr handlers.

Federal agents recorded other
illegals making dead drops

Of documents and data, even
hiding packages of money

In a park in
arlington, virginia.

But in time the operation
grew more sophisticated.

Figliuzzi: In a span of a decade
we saw increasing technology

Being inserted
into the operation.

So, we went from traditional
brush passes and dead drops,

But then we also saw
added in the tech side,

And it got higher and higher.

Lewis: The illegals
sat in coffee shops

And flashed messages
from their laptops

To suspicious vehicles
parked outside.

Coded texts were embedded
in images posted online.

Sipher: It's impressive
that the fbi was able

To monitor these people
as long as they did

Without jeopardizing
the larger case.

Because if any of them at
all during the entire years

That they're under
scrutiny believe

They're under
surveillance by the fbi,

It would blow the
entire operation.

Lewis: Then came
a red flag for the fbi.

(camera clicking)

Cynthia murphy's job in a
new york accounting firm

Had given her access
to influential clients.

Figliuzzi: Cynthia murphy was
getting very close

To a man named alan patricof.

(camera clicking)

Alan patricof was connected
to hillary clinton,

During a time when hillary
clinton was considering a run

For the us presidency, and
that got our attention.

Cynthia murphy's
handlers back in russia

Would have been
extremely interested

To learn the intentions,
the strategies

Of a major us
political candidate

To a degree where they
might be able to influence

And shape american politics.

Lewis: It was the
kind of audacious gambit

The fbi had been waiting for

In order to make their
move against the illegals.

Vasiliev: The fbi idea
was to watch

Whether those illegals would
recruit a serious agent.

Lewis: But
almost immediately,

The intelligence
services received news

That threatened to close
down the entire operation.

Richard murphy had just
bought a ticket to moscow.

The fbi feared operation
ghost stories had been blown.

(dramatic music)

Panetta: We had found out that
one of the individuals

That we were surveilling was
going to go back to russia.

And that raised the concern
that if that happened

The russians might
end their mission.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Now they had a problem.

Any attempt to round up the
illegals risked exposing

The cia's moscow source,
colonel aleksandr potoyev,

The man who had revealed
their identities.

(dramatic music)

Panetta: It was clearly
important knowing that

At some point we were
gonna take action

Against these illegals, that
we had to protect the source.

Lewis: The pressure
was now on the cia

To get its man out of moscow
before the fbi made its move

On the illegals in the us.

Augustyn: If he had been caught
as a spy in russia

And he didn't have
an exfiltration plan,

He would have been
charged with high treason

And probably a prison sentence
of 25 years, if not executed.

(gun firing)

Lewis: An
exfiltration operation

Of this significance
could only be authorized

By the commander-in-chief,
president barack obama.

(camera clicking)

Explaining the delicacy of
the situation to the president

Fell to the director of
the cia, leon panetta.

Panetta: These events were
beginning to all come together

At the same time.

And so it was important
to brief the president.

(camera clicking)

I thought it was important
to raise the concern

That if we were to take
action against these illegals,

(camera clicking)

What would we do in order
to protect the source

Who had provided the
initial information?

(camera clicking)

Lewis: Robert gates
was president obama's

Defense secretary at the time.

Gates: I remember getting a
phone call from cia director,

Leon panetta, telling me that
there was gonna be a meeting

At the white house and
discuss what to do.

(camera clicking)

There was pretty broad
unanimity about that,

That we had a responsibility
to save this person.

Lewis: But
for president obama

The timing could
not have been worse.

(camera clicking)

Within two weeks, russian
president, dmitry medvedev,

Was due to arrive in
washington for a state visit.

(camera clicking)

Obama believed the spy games
would jeopardize any hopes

Of a thaw in us
russian relations.

(dramatic music)

Gates: He was actually angry at
panetta and at the fbi director,

Bob muller, for exposing
this, because he thought

This counterintelligence
operation

Had thrown a monkey
wrench in the works.

Panetta: We had it discussed
at the meeting

About how should this
be handled in a way

That would not necessarily
embarrass president medvedev

Or undermine the effort to try

To establish better relations,
but, at the same time,

Not allow these potential
spies to get away with it.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Then there
was the added complication

Of who was really in
charge in the kremlin.

Gates: I had a suspicion that
mevedev had no knowledge

Of this at all,
(camera clicking)

That putin may well have
because of his close ties

To the security service.

(camera clicking)

Lewis: The three
men devised a plan.

To avoid a damaging
international incident,

The timing of its implementation
would have to be perfect.

Panetta: When medvedev's plane
was in the air heading back

To moscow, that
would be the moment

That the fbi would arrest
all of the illegals.

Lewis: The cia
would have until then

To get their source,
colonel aleksandr poteyev,

Out of russia.

Panetta: So with without going
into classified details,

It was arranged for the source
to be able to find a way

To be able to leave moscow.

Lewis: The plan was,
if he made it out alive,

He'd spend the rest
of his life in the us

In a resettlement program.

(dramatic music)

Augustyn: Poteyev decided to
leave moscow June 24th, 2010.

And he left on a
train to belarus,

Using his brother's passport.

He then, I understand, went
to ukraine, changed documents,

Found his way to frankfurt
and he was ferried back

To the united states.

(dramatic music)

(people applauding)

Lewis: On the
very same day poteyev

Was making his escape, russian
president medvedev arrived

In washington do
for his state visit.

Obama: Somebody's got to do it.

Lewis: Nobody mentioned
the russian spy cell

In america or the source.

President obama
simply acted normally

And charmed medeyev
with an impromptu lunch.

Medvedev: Sir, can I assist you?

Obama: No, no, no, this
one's on me.

Panetta: The president's
intent by taking him

To a hamburger place was to
create a better relationship

And disarm him.

Obama: All right.

Lewis: But while the
two leaders dined on burgers

And fries, the fbi
initiated their plan

To round up the network
of russian illegals.

(dramatic music)

Their operation first
targeted the weakest link

In the spy ring: Anna chapman.

(camera clicking)

Chapman was the daughter
of a former kgb general.

(camera clicking)

She had arrived in
manhattan in 2009,

Posing as the ceo of a real
estate firm. (camera clicking)

Unlike the other illegals,

Chapman was using
her real identity

And was hiding in plain sight.

Goodman: She used her british
surname that she had taken

From marrying a brit some years
earlier. (camera clicking)

She didn't try to hide in
the shadows in the same way

That some of these illegals had.

Harding: The kgb had a tradition
of using women for kind

Of espionage purposes,
essentially trying to kind

Of compromise western diplomats,

All the way back to the kind
of cold war. (camera clicking)

Lewis: Chapman
worked her way

Into the new york social scene.

Goodman: The benefits to
russian intelligence

Of someone like anna chapman
is that she can blend

Into society, she doesn't
go there under any form

Of diplomatic cover,
any diplomatic presence,

The russians can much more
easily hold up their hands

Deniably and say this is
nothing to do with us.

(camera clicking)

Vasiliev: Well, anna
chapman differs

From the rest of these guys

Because, in my opinion, she
wasn't a professional operative.

Lewis: The fbi had
been following anna chapman's

Every move.

(camera bleeping)

They knew her russian
handler, codenamed roman,

Communicated on wednesdays,
and never face-to-face.

(dramatic music)

Figliuzzi: She would carry
her covert comm

Laptop around manhattan

On shopping excursions
or to coffee shops.

She'd press a few keys
on the keypad as directed

And her russian handler in a
line of sight would be able

To send or receive messages
back and forth with her.

(camera clicking)

Lewis: While
presidents medevedev

And obama addressed the g8
conference in ontario, canada,

In new york the fbi
made their move.

(dramatic music)

Chapman received
an urgent message

Requesting an in
person rendezvous

In an uptown new york
coffee shop the next day.

Meeting face to face broke
protocol, but she took the bait.

Figliuzzi: She had agreed to
meet with someone

She thought was a
new russian handler,

But, in fact, was an
fbi undercover agent.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: The fbi
needed taped evidence

Chapman was working for
russian foreign intelligence.

Posing as her handler,

The fbi agent gave
chapman an assignment

To pass a fake passport
to another russian agent,

An assignment she
promptly accepted.

And that's not all.

Figliuzzi: She handed over
her malfunctioning

Covert communications laptop,

She actually asked the
fbi undercover agent

If he could fix it.

(traffic humming)

Lewis: The fbi now had access
to every covert communication

On chapman's computer.

But chapman realized
almost immediately

That she had made a mistake
and placed an urgent call

To her father in moscow.

(dramatic music)

Figliuzzi: We captured
that conversation.

She told her father
what she had done.

The father immediately
chastised her,

Reported that conversation.

We knew we had a problem, we
knew the timing was short.

Lewis: The
fear was the russians

Would summon chapman back
to moscow immediately.

But the fbi couldn't
arrest her yet,

(camera clicking)

Because president
medvedev still had a day

On north american soil
at the g20 summit.

Figliuzzi: There was a real
sense developing

That she could get on a plane
at any time and head out

Of the country and we would
lose one of our major players.

(plane humming)

Lewis:: On June the
27th, 2010,

Russian federation president
dmitry medvedev's plane

Left north american
airspace, bound for moscow.

At that moment, in
cities and towns

All across the united states,

The fbi swooped on the
illegals spy network

In a coordinated takedown.

(dramatic music)

Lapin: It was Sunday, there
was a line of black cars

With new york license.

We didn't know
what was happening.

The neighbor went up
to the fbi and said,

"should we be worried?"

"Are we in danger?"

Lewis: A few doors
up from elizabeth lapin,

Cynthia and richard
murphy were led handcuffed

Into the waiting vehicles.

Lapin: I found out they were
spies when my neighbor said,

"are you sitting down?"

I was shaken up.

If you had told me that
martians were living next door,

I would have been less surprised

Than hearing they
were russian spies.

Lewis: For the
murphy's two young daughters,

The discovery that their
parents were trained members

Of russia's foreign
intelligence service

Was a shattering revelation.

(radio operator murmuring)

Lapin: This is the part that
gives me the chills.

The children were
also being fooled

In the most intimate level.

I don't know if you
call it child abuse,

But we were very
upset as a community.

Lewis: Simultaneously,
across the us,

The eight other members
of the illegals spy ring

Were arrested,
including anna chapman.

Figliuzzi: There was no
resistance with the arrests,

It went without incident.
(camera clicking)

There was some short-feigned
surprise, but, quite frankly,

In almost every case we
saw a look of resignation,

A look of inevitability
on the subjects' faces.

They knew some day
this could happen

And they realized it
was happening now.

Lewis: Now though,
the us intelligence services

Faced a dilemma.

Figliuzzi: Do we notify

The russian diplomatic
establishments

That we know who
these people are?

Or do we pretend,
for the time being,

That we've arrested
americans who say

That they're americans, and
so therefore we don't need

To tell their government?

Lewis: Us intelligence
officials were uncertain

As to whether their
russian counterparts

Would own their illegals or
deny all knowledge of them.

(camera clicking)

Cia director leon
panetta made the call

To his russian counterpart,

Head of the svr,
mikhail fradkov.

Panetta: I said, "mikhail,
you need to know"

"that we've picked
up your people."

And there was a silence.

And then he said,
"yes, they are ours."

(dramatic music)

Everybody in the room
kind of, you know,

You could tell
they were surprised

By the fact that he
was acknowledging that.

Lewis: The russian's
admission allowed panetta

To make a bold proposition:

To use the diplomatically
delicate situation

To the advantage of both sides.

(dramatic music)

Panetta: I said, "is there a way
to work out possibly some kind"

"of trade that would allow
us to exchange these spies"

"for those that the
russians were holding?"

(dramatic music)

Lewis: What panetta
was offering harked back

To the height of the
cold war: A spy swap.

Panetta: He said, "let me
look into that"

He was going to have to
check with higher authorities

Which we all assumed meant

That somebody had
to talk to putin.

(dramatic music)

Vasiliev: Any decision
concerning the special services

Couldn't be taken without
putin's knowledge.

Of course, putin
had to be consulted

About the swap of the agents.

Lewis: The message
came back from the kremlin:

The swap was on.

And the cia now had an
opportunity to extricate men

Who had sacrificed their
freedom for the west.

(dramatic music)

Goodman: What it shows, I think,

Certainly for
british intelligence

And for american intelligence,

Is how they look
after their own.

They never forget those
who will work for them,

Who will really
sacrifice or be prepared

To sacrifice their lives for
the cause that they believe in.

Lewis: Moscow agreed
to swap four men imprisoned

For spying for the 10 russian
illegals in fbi custody.

Now the cia needed to decide
who they would bring back in

From the cold.

Joe augustyn ran the
cia defectors unit

That paved the way for the
repatriation of former agents.

(camera clicking)

Augustyn: Zaporozhsky was
probably number one on our list

Of people to get back.

Zaporozhsky was a very
important recruited spy

For the united states.

(camera clicking)

He helped to give up
people like aldrich ames

And perhaps even robert hanssen.

(camera clicking)

Vasilenko was a kgb officer
who came to washington

And developed a relationship
with a cia officer,

A legendary cia officer
named jack platt.

So they charged him
with some bogus crimes

And he wound up in jail.

Charged with high treason
was sutyagin, igor sutyagin.

(camera clicking)

He took information
on nuclear submarines

And russian nuclear
defense systems,

And he analyzed it
and he provided it

To a uk consulting firm.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Then, in a move

That would later trigger
an extraordinary sequence

Of events, the cia
turned to their partners

At britain's foreign
intelligence agency,

Mi6, to provide a fourth name.

Harding: Of course they said,
"yeah, we've got sergei skripal,

"who did work for us,
he's currently in prison"

"in a penal colony,
and let's get him out."

(camera clicking)

Augustyn: Skripal was a gru
officer, a colonel, recruited

By mi6 in the '90s in Spain.

He was an incredibly
important asset for the uk.

He basically gave up the
european operations of the gr...

(dramatic music)

Lewis: The gru
was russia's feared

Military intelligence unit.

So getting skripal out of
an internment camp built

For stalin's political prisoners
would be a significant coup

For the west.

The four men knew nothing

Of the cia's plans
to extricate them.

Now, without explanation,
each were transported

To the infamous lefortovo
prison in moscow.

Panetta: These individuals
were totally blindsided,

They'd been in prison for
a long period of time,

Some of them sure thought
they would be there

For the rest of their lives.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: President medvedev had
agreed to the men's release.

Prime minister vladimir
putin had added a condition

Of his own: Before the
men could be released,

A confession of their
treachery would need

To be extracted from each of
them, by any means necessary.

(dramatic music)

In the first week of July 2010,

Sergei skripal was visited

By a man claiming
to be from the cia.

He had with him a
presidential pardon,

With notification of
skripal's release.

Goodman: Skripal thought it was
a great russian ruse to get him

To own up to what
he'd actually done.

He had never admitted
to being an mi6 spy.

So when he was presented with
a document saying you're about

To be released, you're
about to be flown

To the united kingdom,
just sign here

And confirm that you've been
a russian spy all along,

He was unsurprisingly
very, very skeptical.

Lewis: Skeptical or not,

Skripal did what was necessary.

(dramatic music)

At cia headquarters,
director leon panetta

Chose a theatrical location

For the biggest east-west
spy swap since the cold war.

Panetta: We decided that vienna

Would be probably an
appropriate place to do this,

Based on a lot of
old spy movies.

Harding: I mean, it was a bit
like going through a wormhole,

About 50 years, to the
early 1950s, and you had

To pinch yourself and say,
"actually, no, this is 2010."

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Just 13 days after
the fbi's dramatic arrests

Of the russian illegals
spy network in the us,

Two planes touched
down at vienna airport.

In front of the world's media,

10 deep-cover russian
illegals were about

To be exchanged for four
alleged cia and mi6 agents.

(dramatic music)

Harding: I was sitting in my
soviet sort of

Style flat with a phone

And an old style desk, and
I was watching the news

About this kind
of breaking story

Which sounded like something
from the 40s and 50s,

But, of course, it was
real, it was dramatic.

Panettal one group made their
way across the airport

To the other plane, they
literally crossed paths.

I have often said it was
right out of the third man.

(dramatic music)

(crowd cheering)

Lewis: The
illegals would go on

To receive a hero's
welcome from the kremlin.

(dramatic music)

Anna chapman reverted
to anna kushchenko

And became a media sensation.

Vasiliev: When she came back to
moscow, putin used her

For patriotic education
of young russian people

And she herself became a
successful business woman,

She had a career in show
business, in modeling and so on,

So it's a beautiful spy
story, everyone was happy.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: On
the airport tarmac,

The four russians
accused of spying

For the west toasted to
their freedom and new lives.

But that wasn't the
end of the story.

Goodman: History tells us the
soviet intelligence

And russian intelligence
do not forgive people

Who have betrayed
the motherland.

Putin is very clear on this.

Vasiliev: The defectors know
they are traitors,

They know they are scumbags.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: In the summer of 2010,
sutyagin, vasilenko,

Zaporozhsky and skripal began
new lives with putin's threats

Of revenge ringing
in their ears.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Eight years after the
arrest of the russian illegals

And the vienna spy exchange,

East-west tensions
were once again rising.

(crowd cheering)

Now putin was back
in the kremlin,

Accused of interfering in the
2016 us presidential election.

(dramatic music)

(birds chirping)

At the same time, in a
peaceful cathedral city

In the southwest of England,
former mi6 agent sergei skripal

Was enjoying a quiet life
in a resettlement program.

(dramatic music)

Goodman: Skripal, when he was
resettled in the uk,

Probably thought
he could get away

With living quite an open life.

He'd been pardoned by a
previous russian president,

Previous russian administration.

He did not adopt a
covert lifestyle,

He did not adopt
a different name.

(camera clicking)

Lewis: On March
the 3rd, yulia skripal,

Sergei's daughter, flew from
moscow to visit her father.

She was unaware her movements
were being closely monitored

By her father's
former colleagues

In russian military
intelligence.

The following day, father and
daughter dined at a restaurant

In the city center.

Within just two hours came news
of a catastrophic incident.

Harding: I was in london, at
home, when the news broke.

It was the Monday evening
when there was a statement

That came out that a former
russian spy had fallen ill

In suspicious circumstances
and was possibly poisoned.

Police chief: The two people,
a man aged 66

And a 33-year-old woman

Were found
unconscious in a bench

In the maltings area of
salisbury city center.

Lewis: The police
investigation revealed father

And daughter had been poisoned
by a deadly nerve agent

Developed by the russian
military: Novichok.

Goodman: We know from
metropolitan police

Records and photographs

That the poison was
transported to the uk

In a small spray bottle,
small perfume bottle.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Cctv
revealed two men,

Later identified as alexandr
mishkin and anatoly chepiga,

Arrive at salisbury
railway station,

And make their way
toward the skripal home.

Harding: Mishkin and chepiga
they were colonels in the gr...

They applied this
nerve agent novichok

To the front door handle of
skripal's semi-detached home.

Lewis: Many
believe evidence pointed

To a russian state-sponsored
assassination plot.

Harding: The method
of assassination,

Or attempted assassination,

Was practically identical
to what happened in 2006

With alexander litvinenko.

Only one man is capable

Of approving a risky
international plot like this.

That man is president of
the russian federation.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: But
the claim that putin

Was behind an
assassination attempt

On british soil was hotly
disputed by the kremlin.

Instead, mishkin and chepiga
offered their own explanation

For their visit to salisbury.

(speaking in foreign language)

Vasiliev: Experts
and journalists

Have been trying to come up

With a reasonable explanation
of the salisbury case,

But they can't.

Why to kill sergei skripal
with novichok, why?

He's not worth it, he's just
a guy, he's just a traitor.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: In the wake
of the skripal affair,

The uk government expelled
23 russian diplomats.

The total expelled
worldwide exceeded 150,

Perhaps the largest
collective expulsion

Of russian intelligence
officers in history.

Decades after the collapse
of the soviet union,

Putin's russia was still
bitterly at odds with the west.

Figliuzzi: I think there is
now a realization

Among the american public that
we still have adversaries,

That the cold war is not over.

Lewis: Instead, we may
just be entering a new era,

One in which russia's
spymaster-in-chief

Has taken his spy war
directly onto british

And american soil.

Panetta: Putin is kgb.

(camera clicking)

That's probably in many
ways what identifies

The way he behaves, because
he will always work the angles

To make sure that russian
interests are protected.

Lewis: In 2011, an
anonymous kremlin official

Suggested a russian
hit squad was planning

To assassinate the man who
had revealed the existence

Of the russian illegals and
triggered the whole affair:

Colonel aleksandr poteyev.

(camera clicking)

Then, in July 2016, russian
state tv announced that poteyev,

Though living under protection
in the us, was dead.

Augustyn: It doesn't surprise
me, let's put it that way.

You know, there have been
attempts and speculation

About whether putin
would actually, you know,

Go after people
on american soil.

It doesn't surprise
me in the least.

(camera clicking)

Panetta: Putin is not going to
let a former spy suddenly live

In another country
and die a happy life.

(camera clicking)

Putin is gonna take action
to go after that individual

To send a real clear signal
that nobody else ought

To do the same thing.

Lewis: By publicizing
a traitor's death,

The kremlin claimed a public
relations victory over the us.

But it just could be
that the bizarre case

Of alexandr poteyev
illuminates a moment

When us intelligence
agencies chose not

To contradict russian propaganda

As the best way to ensure
the safety of their agent.

Despite his obituaries,
some claim the man

Who gave up russia's
illegals network

Is still very much alive.

And the story seems
far from over.

(dramatic music)