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From 1945 to 1948 he attended the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow and was then assigned to the GRU military intelligence Penkovsky's first espionage assignment was in Ankara where, in 1955, he served as a military attach/ in the Soviet Embassy. He spied on Turkish military installations, as well as those of the U.S. in Turkey. The following year he returned to Russia and studied military engineering. The GRU considered him to be one of their most reliable officers who had always carried out instructions efficiently.
Penkovsky claimed to be disillusioned with communism and its aim to dominate the world. In 1961, Penkovsky led a Soviet trade delegation to London, but his real mission was to operate a GRU spy network. When British businessman Wynne arrived in Moscow to arrange the Soviet delegation's visit Penkovsky told him that he must meet senior Western intelligence officers once he arrived in London. Wynne managed to set up this meeting, which occurred almost immediately after the Soviet delegation arrived. Penkovsky told the SIS officers that he wanted to help the West and after convincing them that he was sincere, his offer was accepted. He was to be a double spy, pretending to conduct Soviet espionage while sending reports to the West. In 1961 and 1962, Penkovsky proved to be a major source of secret information for the West. He passed along to the both the CIA and SIS intelligence relating to the Soviet Union's overall military aims, plans, and espionage operations around the world. Identifying scores of Soviet agents, armaments, missile systems and even giving details on Soviet satellites. Penkovsky handed over more than 5,000 photographs during an eighteen-month period.
The manner in which Penkovsky delivered information to SIS when he was in Moscow was prosaic but effective. He would sit on a bench in the Tsventnoy Boulevard alongside Mrs Ruari Chisholm, the wife of Penkovsky's SIS control in Moscow. Penkovsy would then simply hand a box of Chocolates containing the microfilm to the Chisholm children. Later after the Chisholm's were returned to London in 1962, SIS Officer Gervase Cowell and his wife Pamela played a similar role.Penkovsky using the Western code name 'Alex'. took great quantities of top secret documents each night and photographed them in his small flat overlooking the Moscow River, using a Minox camera provided by SIS. Sometimes, Penkovsky would met Wynne and simply hand him dozens of rolls of film.
The information Penkovsky provided on Soviet ballistic missiles is reported to have been of vital importance to President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, the KGB slowly came to realise that a highly positioned Soviet official was feeding intelligence to the West. Penkovsky was arrested having finally been compromised by film of his meetings with the Chisholm family, George Blake having warned the KGB that Ruari Chisholm was a SIS Officer. His 'cut-out', Wynne was seized in Budapest and later returned to Britain after a show trial and a short period in a Soviet prison. Penkovsky was tried in May 1963 and was convicted both of treason and espionage. Penkovsky is believed to have shot by firing squad a few days later conviction. The real problem with the whole Penkovsky saga revolved around the suspicion aroused by the knowledge that the KGB had indeed suspected Penkovsky for months before his arrest, but for reasons as yet unknown he was allowed to continue passing intelligence to the West. Was Penkovsky a triple agent, ie ultimately loyal to Moscow and his reported execution mere disinformation or did the KGB, well aware of his connection with SIS following a tip off from Blake, use Penkovsky to plant misleading information on the CIA and SIS .
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