Richard Sorge is one of the greatest spies in history. Famously he reported to Stalin that the Germans were going to invade Russia, and famously Stalin ignored him. He then reported that the Japanese weren't going to invade Russia, and this time, the Russians listened. Siberian troops were redeployed to the western front, and they may have saved Moscow from the Nazis.





Owen Matthews, a distinguished writer, historian and journalist, came on the podcast to talk about Richard Sorge's life, his spy network and just how exactly he knew that the Japanese weren't going to invade. From standing on tabletops singing "I love Stalin, Hitler is a bandit", to having an affair with his best source, Sorge lived a bizarre and brilliant life.





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Producer: Peter Curry

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