The Spy Who Was Left Behind

Russia, the United States, and the True Story of the Betrayal and Assassination of a CIA Agent

Michael Pullara

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781501152146
• eBook ISBN:
  9781501152153
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Russian History
• Index: History

The shocking true story of international intrigue — "a highly detailed, engrossing work" ( Kirkus Reviews )—involving the 1993 murder of CIA officer Freddie Woodruff by KGB agents and the extensive cover-up that followed in Washington and in Moscow. "In a post-truth era, we need a lot more fearless writers like Michael Pullara" (Robert Baer, author of See No Evil ). On August 8, 1993, a single bullet to the head killed Freddie Woodruff, the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Within hours, police had a suspect—a vodka-soaked village bumpkin named Anzor Sharmaidze. A tidy explanation quickly followed: It was a tragic accident. US diplomats hailed Georgia's swift work, and both countries breathed a sigh of relief.Yet the bullet that killed Woodruff was never found and key witnesses have since retracted their testimony, saying they were beaten and forced to identify Sharmaidze. But if he didn't do it, who did? Those who don't buy the official explanation think the answer lies in the spy games that played out on Russia's frontier following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Woodruff was an early actor in a dangerous drama. American spies were moving into newborn nations previously dominated by Soviet intelligence. Russia's security apparatus, resentful and demoralized, was in turmoil, its nominal loyalty to a pro-Western course set by President Boris Yeltsin, shredded by hardline spooks and generals who viewed the Americans as a menace.At the time when Woodruff was stationed there, Georgia was a den of intrigue. It had a big Russian military base and was awash with former and not-so-former Soviet agents. Shortly before Woodruff was shot, veteran CIA officer Aldrich Ames—who would soon be unmasked as a KGB mole—visited him on agency business. In short order, Woodruff would be dead and Ames, in prison for life. Buckle up, because The Spy Who Was Left Behind reveals the full-throttle, little-known thrilling tale.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• A Note on Georgian Names
• Key Players
• Chapter 1: Death on a Lonely Road
• Chapter 2: “Do They Think We’re Idiots?”
• Chapter 3: The Testimony of Two Spies and a Housewife
• Chapter 4: An Obscure Hint
• Chapter 5: Mr. American Lawyer
• Chapter 6: Hometown of a Spy
• Chapter 7: The Thief in Law
• Chapter 8: “The Americans Knew Everything”
• Chapter 9: A Visit to the Prosecutor General
• Chapter 10: “No One Interviews Marina”
• Chapter 11: A Georgian Education
• Chapter 12: “You Need to Get That File”
• Chapter 13: A Letter from the American Ambassador
• Chapter 14: The Search for the Real Killer
• Chapter 15: “They Beat Me”
• Chapter 16: Official Interrogations
• Chapter 17: A Reporter’s Questions
• Chapter 18: Confessions of an Old Soldier
• Epilogue: The Spy Who Was Left Behind
• Photographs
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Appendix: Time line of Aldrich Ames’s CIA career from 1983 to his arrest for espionage
• Index
• Copyright