Cold War Spy Tale Came to Life on the Streets of Moscow

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Cold War Spy Tale Came to Life on the Streets of Moscow

[John I. Guilsher was assigned to a Russian who proved to be an asset]

By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, April 20, 2008; Page C08

Five times from January 1977 to February 1978, a Russian man approached cars with U.S. diplomatic license plates in Moscow, begging to speak to an American.

By chance, the first car he encountered at a gas station belonged to the Moscow station chief of the Central Intelligence Agency. Fearing that the Russian was a KGB agent sent to entrap Americans, the CIA ignored his request for a meeting.

But the persistent Russian kept coming back, once pounding on the station chief's car. Each time, he revealed more about himself, indicating that he had information about Soviet weapon systems. Each time, he was turned away.

Finally, he made one last desperate effort to reach out to the Americans. If he was spurned this time, he wrote in an 11-page letter, he would give up. The CIA assigned a Russian-speaking officer named John I. Guilsher to make contact with the man, a senior engineer named Adolf G. Tolkachev.

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