The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West

by Shaun Walker

Profle, [pounds sterling]22, pp. 448

In June 2022, Vladimir Putin tipped up at a party at the headquarters of Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR. This was to mark, of all things, the centenary of the country's programme of deep-cover spies, who live for years abroad under elaborate false identities while passing secrets back to their masters at home. The weirdness of that espionage hoopla, just four months after the invasion of Ukraine, leaves one wondering what other bizarre birthday events Putin might have in his diary. The 85th anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky, perhaps? Ah, you can imagine the banter. The cracker hats. The roll-out noisemakers.

Yet it's not out of the question--as we learn from this thrilling book by the journalist Shaun Walker, which grabs you by the lapels from the very first page. It recounts the 100-year history of the covert Russian agents known in the SVR as 'illegals' (as opposed to the spies thinly disguised as diplomats abroad, the 'legals'). The murder of Trotsky in Mexico in August 1940, when an icepick was planted in the back of his head,...