Soviet portrait of traitor cosy life

Press, 11 August 1980, Page 7

Soviet portrait of traitor cosy life

NZPA-Reuter Moscow. , The British-born Soviet I spy, Harold “Kim” Philby, lives surrounded by books in a paper-littered Moscow flat furnished with an old wooden English table and a Russian samovar, the Soviet weekly magazine, “Nedelya," says. The lengthy article, headed “Philby relates,” is the first detailed account for the Soviet public of Philby, one of the Soviet Union’s most successful intelligence

agents, who defected to Moscow 17 years ago. The article is accompanied by a small photograph, pur-; portedly of Philby, seated on a park bench. The face, how-; ever, bore little resemblance to that of Philby, showing what appeared to be a much younger man. The article appeared to be the Soviet authorities way of giving Philby, who is still an officer of the K.G.8., a longawaited accolade before the Soviet people after a lifetime of service to Moscow.

Although there have been occasional references to him in the Soviet press, such as when he received the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Lenin in 1965, no photograph or pen portrait of him has been published in the Soviet Union. Philby, who became a

Soviet agent in 1934 in Vienna, joined British intelligence in 1940 and rose to head the department responsible for the scrutiny of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. At one time he was tipped to take over the whole British intelligence service but he was forced to resign after being suspected of warning his fellow spies, the British diplomats, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, in 1951 that they were about to be arrested.

The magazine’s reporter who interviewed Philby in his flat portrayed him as relaxed, in good physical shape, and good-humoured. The journalist added: “And yet . . . not long ago he was being called a mystery man and his life was said to be a riddle.”

The reporter, describing a flat littered with papers and mainly English books, said it was as if Charles Dickens had stepped down from the pages of his own books and taken root. “The man of the house harmoniously blends with his surrounds. He is relaxed, unhurried. A large head with grey hair and a square chin sits on strong shoulders. “His bright eyes, slightly screwed-up, soften his weather - beaten face. When Philby smiles, his face brightens up even more,” the article says. The interviewer quoted Philby as saying of his recent life: "I considered and continue to consider that with this work I also served my own English people.” The reporter did not mention the tortured stammer which afflicted Philby and did not refer to either Burgess or Maclean who had also fled to the Soviet Union. Burgess has since died.