event

The Illegals: A Conversation With Shaun Walker on the Untold Story of Russia’s Deep-Cover Spies

Thu. June 26th, 20255:00 PM - 7:00 PM (EDT)
Washington, DC & Live Online

For more than a century, Soviet and Russian spymasters have poured enormous resources into the training and deployment of deep-cover spies known as “illegals.” These agents live behind enemy lines for years, sometimes even decades, to establish elaborate false identities.

In a riveting new book entitled The Illegals, longtime foreign correspondent Shaun Walker traces the evolution of the KGB’s most secretive spy network from its Bolshevik beginnings to a series of spectacular operational failures under Vladimir Putin. Walker’s book is based on years of investigative reporting, archival research across more than a dozen countries, and hundreds of hours of interviews, including with undercover veterans of Soviet-era and Russian intelligence operations.

Join the Carnegie Endowment’s Russia and Eurasia Program for a conversation between Shaun Walker and David Hoffman, the Washington Post’s former foreign editor and Moscow bureau chief as well as the author of several books, including The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal. They will delve into the clandestine world of Russia’s sleeper agents and what this secret history reveals about the enduring ambitions and risk appetite of Putin’s security apparatus.

A book signing and reception will follow the event. Copies will be available for purchase.

Foreign PolicyRussia
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers
Shaun Walker

Shaun Walker

International Correspondent, The Guardian

Shaun Walker is an international correspondent for The Guardian. He reported from Moscow for more than a decade and is the author of The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past (2018). He currently divides his time between Warsaw, Kyiv, and London, covering the war in Ukraine and Russian intelligence operations in Europe.

David E. Hoffman

Contributing Editor, The Washington Post

David E. Hoffman is a contributing editor at The Washington Post. He covered the White House during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and was subsequently diplomatic correspondent and Jerusalem correspondent. From 1995 to 2001, he served as Moscow bureau chief, and later as foreign editor and assistant managing editor for foreign news.