KGB spy who rubbed shoulders with French elite for decades - BBC News

Philippe Grumbach worked for the KGB for 35 years - while rubbing shoulders with the crème de la crème of French society.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsCold WarImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, For decades, KGB spy Philippe Grumbach rubbed shoulders with countless political figures and celebritiesBy Laura GozziBBC NewsMajor French magazine L'Express has revealed that its prominent former editor, Philippe Grumbach, spied for the Soviet Union for 35 years.

Grumbach was an exceptionally well plugged-in figure in French society for decades.

He counted presidents, actors and literary giants as close friends. He was a legendary figure in journalism who shaped the editorial direction of one of France's most successful publications. When he died in 2003, Minister of Culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon said Grumbach had been "one of the most memorable and respected figures in French media".

But he was also "Brok", a spy for Russia's KGB intelligence agency.

Extensive proof of Grumbach's duplicitous life can be found in the so-called Mitrokhin archives - named after the Soviet major who smuggled thousands of pages of documents out of Soviet archives and handed them to Britain in 1992. They were later compiled into a book by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin himself.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68305050

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