Why I ...

Why I...believe the Soviet intelligence officer Vasili Mitrokhin is one of the heroes of our time. Christopher Andrew is professor of modern and continental history, Cambridge University, and editor, with Vasili Mitrokhin, of The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Allen Lane

It is difficult for us in the West, living comfortable lives in relatively peaceful times, to understand the kind of selfless passion that has driven Vasili Mitrokhin to put together this amazing archive of KGB activity and to see it through to publication.

He risked his life on a daily basis for ten years in Moscow - copying documents, smuggling them out in his clothes and then hiding them under his bed. He would have been executed had he been caught. And he has little doubt that his life is still in danger. His single desire has been to chronicle and to expose the iniquities of the KGB. For 20 years, he has lived, breathed and dreamt of this. His passion is overwhelming, his courage astonishing. Along with dissidents such as Sakhanov, he is one of the Russian heroes of the 20th century.

The turning point for Mitrokhin was the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968. He realised that the system was not going to move forward with slow reform, but was going to stay the same. So he became a secret dissident.

This stands in marked contrast to the actions of Melita Norwood. That she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1958 shows that the male-dominated KGB regarded her as a top-class agent. For 40 years, Mrs Norwood handed over British secrets to the Soviets.

As she has admitted all this, should she not then be prosecuted? The question is really a legal one. General confessions and copied documents are not sufficient for a conviction. There has to be evidence of specific crimes, and there have to be original documents. Mitrokhin could not smuggle out original documents. All we have are copies. And Mrs Norwood has not confessed to anything specific.

In the United States, one of those named in the Mitrokhin files, Robert Lipka (Agent DNA), is serving 18 years in jail. He worked for money; Norwood for ideological reasons.

What if it were possible to make a specific case against her? Morally, I have tremendous respect for anyone in this cynical age who acts selflessly for a cause they hold dear. People forget what life was like in the 1930s, where class determined how you were treated. She did not do this for any unworthy motive, and it is hard-hearted not to forgive someone for a mistake made long ago.

But although she acted selflessly, she has made a terrible mistake. What sticks in my throat is that she seems not to realise that she helped one of the most vile regimes in human history. Her reported statement that she would do the same again is breathtaking.

Interview by Kathryn Jackson.

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