Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence

Penkovskiy was caught by the KGBas a result of his tradecraft

errors. However, he had by that time operated for almost two years

under the eyes of the KGB in the Soviet capital. He was tried and shot

in 1963. Following his arrest, eight British and five American diplo-

mats were expelled from the Soviet Union. Penkovskiy’s espionage

badly damaged the GRU and caused Communist Partyleader Nikita

Khrushchevto fire GRU chief Ivan Serovand appoint a senior KGB

counterintelligenceofficer, Petr Ivashutin, to command the military

intelligence service. After Penkovskiy’s fall, more than 300 GRU of-

ficers were recalled to Moscow. Penkovskiy’s motivationfor betray-

ing the Soviet Union has long been debated. Angry about his position

and lack of advancement after the war, he probably acted from per-

sonal reasons best known to himself—and his KGB interrogators.

PERESTROIKA. Restructuring (perestroika) and openness (glasnost)

were the most important elements of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reform

agenda. Perestroika, in Gorbachev’s view, was a reorientation of the

Soviet economy toward limited market reform, much like Vladimir

Lenin’s New Economic Policy of the 1920s. The hope was that re-

form would lead to a revitalization of the consumer sector of the

economy. In effect, however, Gorbachev allowed only tinkering with

the faltering Soviet economy; he would not consider any legalization

of large-scale private business or the return of private property.

Perestroikadid not benefit the Soviet populace. The emergence of

small business did not fill economic needs of the Soviet population

for higher quality food and consumer goods. In the late 1980s, infla-

tion and deficits of consumer goods and quality food continued—

even intensified as the system teetered toward total collapse. One

class did benefit from perestroika: the Soviet Union’s criminal gangs

were well positioned to act as extortionists in the new economy. The

KGBwas horrified by the excesses of perestroika; much of the sen-

ior leadership believed that Gorbachev’s half-hearted reforms had

unleashed corruption unseen in Soviet history. Perestroikamay be re-

membered as a fatal half-step that indirectly led to the August putsch

of 1991 and the end of the Soviet Union.

PERS (PERSEUS). One of the most important NKVDagents in the

Manhattan Project remains unidentified to this day. Ascientist referred

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