Soviet Union The Odd Case of M. Orlov

A defector who dies in Moscow turns out to be a spy

The obituary read like the opening page of a spy novel. Mikhail Yevgenyevich Orlov, alias Glenn Michael Souther, who had "made a large contribution" to Soviet state security, had "died suddenly" at 32. For the KGB leadership committee, which signed the article in the military newspaper Red Star last week, Orlov's death was a "huge loss." But could this Orlov really be Souther, a onetime U.S. Navy photographer who had defected to the Soviet Union more than a year ago? In calling Souther by a Russian name, the obituary seemed to suggest that the deceased had actually been a Soviet mole,...

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