The KGB denial cables
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The KGB denial cables are two messages John Kiriakou cites as proof of an unwritten rule governing how the American and Soviet services treat each other's officers.

The agreement

"We've always had a gentleman's agreement with the Russians that we don't harm or interfere with their people, and they won't harm and interfere with our people."

Athens, 1975

Kiriakou read the traffic himself. Recalling the reports from the murder of the CIA station chief in Athens, Dick Welch, on 23 December 1975: "the very first cable that we received was from Moscow, and it was the KGB saying, we promise it wasn't us."

Dallas, 1963

He gives the same account of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963: "the very first message that the CIA received was from the KGB saying, we promise it wasn't us. There's this gentleman's agreement that has always been respected."

Why it still matters

Kiriakou raised the agreement to answer a practical question about the war in Ukraine: what happens when Russian troops reach the CIA bases reported to be sited along the Russian border. His expectation is limited and specific, "sure, they might overrun CIA bases and they'll likely expel those CIA officers, but I wouldn't expect much more."

The interviewer's response, that he was not sure the Russians were gentlemen, went unanswered as the segment ran out of time.

See also

- Richard Welch
- Central Intelligence Agency
- Ukraine as a proxy war
