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Cambridge Five

<p style="text-align: left;">They made a conscious choice to work with Soviet intelligence, driven by their deep anti-fascist principles and guided by the universal human values of freedom and a just world order.</p>

They made a conscious choice to work with Soviet intelligence, driven by their deep anti-fascist principles and guided by the universal human values of freedom and a just world order.

Sergey Naryshkin, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)

I look at my life as devoted to a cause I sincerely and passionately believe in.

Kim Philby

The brilliant Cambridge Five probably have no equal in the history of world intelligence.

Yevgeny Primakov, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (1991−1996)

<br /><p style="text-align: left;">For me, Kim was simply a man — warm, gentle, kind. But the most important thing for him was always his work; he worked until the end of his days.</p>

For me, Kim was simply a man — warm, gentle, kind. But the most important thing for him was always his work; he worked until the end of his days.

Rufina Pukhova-Filby, wife of Kim Philby

We’d have been better off doing nothing (during the Philby years).

Miles Copeland, former CIA officer

They made a conscious choice to work with Soviet intelligence, driven by their deep anti-fascist principles and guided by the universal human values of freedom and a just world order.

Sergey Naryshkin, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)

I look at my life as devoted to a cause I sincerely and passionately believe in.

Kim Philby

The brilliant Cambridge Five probably have no equal in the history of world intelligence.

Yevgeny Primakov, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (1991−1996)

For me, Kim was simply a man — warm, gentle, kind. But the most important thing for him was always his work; he worked until the end of his days.

Rufina Pukhova-Filby, wife of Kim Philby

We’d have been better off doing nothing (during the Philby years).

Miles Copeland, former CIA officer

Kim Philby (1912—1988), aka “Synok” (Sonny), aka “Zenchen”

British aristocrat, journalist, intelligence officer, founder and coordinator of the legendary Cambridge Five

Donald Maclean (1913—1983), aka “Waise,” “Stuart,” “Lyric,” “Homer”

British aristocrat, accomplished diplomat, Soviet intelligence officer, prominent historian and international relations expert

Guy Burgess (1911—1963), aka “Mädchen,” “Paul,” “Hicks”

British aristocrat, BBC journalist, diplomat, Soviet intelligence officer

Anthony Blunt (1907−1983), aka "Tony," "Johnson," "Ian"

Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, Renaissance art historian, Soviet intelligence officer

John Cairncross (1913−1995), aka "Molière," "Liszt," "Karel"

British diplomat, civil servant, Soviet intelligence officer, expert in French literature

Their Contribution

On the eve of World War II

Behind the curtains of European politics in the late 1930s, as revealed by the Cambridge Five’s reports to Moscow

"Prokhorovka, Prokhorovka…"

How Philby and the Cambridge Group helped the Soviet Union win the Battle of Kursk and the Great Patriotic War

Atomic project

The Cambridge Group kept Moscow informed about American and British progress towards developing nuclear weapons

On the frontlines of the Cold War

The Cambridge Five and Western subversion against the Soviet Union

The Philby School

The legendary agent’s later work as a consultant to Soviet foreign intelligence

About the project

The educational project "Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five" was initiated by Kim Philby’s widow Rufina Pukhova-Philby (1932−2021), Director General of the Institute for Foreign Policy Research and Initiatives Veronika Krasheninnikova, and co-founder of the Kim Philby Memorial Foundation Mikhail Bogdanov. The project was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service and received financial support from the Presidential Grants Fund.

Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess and John Cairncross — all brilliant intellectuals from Cambridge University — realised earlier than most what a mortal threat fascism posed to the world, and made a choice to support the Soviet Union, the greatest and principled enemy of fascism and Nazism. Before, during and after the Second World War, the members of the group provided Moscow with troves of secret information, which hastened the victory and saved the lives of countless Soviet soldiers and civilians. They helped our country acquire nuclear weapons and push back against America’s hegemonic expansion in Europe during the Cold War.

The project tells the story of the Cambridge group, so that the names of these heroes are better known now and into the future.

About the use of information on this website

The materials on this website are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International and may be reproduced without restrictions provided the source is properly.

Any display of Nazi symbols on this site is intended solely to provide historical context for the events of the 1930-1940s and the antifascist struggle that the Soviet Union and the outstanding individuals profiled on this website were committed to.

About the project

Their Contribution

Library

Profiles

The Five

The Team