Aleksandr Ogorodnik

Common card · No. 255724

Aleksandr Dmitrievich Ogorodnik (Russian: Александр Дмитриевич Огородник; November 11, 1939 – June 22, 1977) was a Soviet diplomat who, while stationed in Bogotá, was contacted by the Colombian Administrative Department of Security and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to spy on the Soviet Union, operating under the code name TRIGON. He initially showed little promise and claimed he knew only of Colombian political affairs. He was later transferred to the Soviet Foreign Ministry in Moscow. In this new position, he was able to photograph a great deal of secret diplomatic cables, many of which were sent daily to the White House. Ogorodnik eventually requested a suicide pill to be used in the event that he was caught. His chief CIA handler in Bogotá, KGB double agent Aldrich Ames, was able to supply him with one. However, Ogorodnik threw away the first pen containing the L-pill (lethal pill) and asked for the CIA to provide him with another pen. After much discussion in the CIA headquarters...

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