18. Yuri Modin told his version of the Cambridge 5 story in 1994
When Yuri Modin accepted the assignment of handling the Cambridge spies he trod upon treacherous ground. His two immediate predecessors in the role had been shot under orders from Stalin. Some in Soviet intelligence believed the spies had been providing disinformation to the Soviets. Modin accepted the role in 1948, according to his account, published in French in 1994. When an English translation appeared, its publisher changed some of the names in the story, inserting others, including that of Baron Rothschild. Changes between the original version and that published by the British did not receive the approval of the author. Modin disputed the British version of the book until his death in Moscow in 2007.
Modin arranged, from the Soviet side, the defections of Burgess and Maclean. He likely arranged the departure of Dolmatova from Beirut as well, though he did not specifically address Philby’s escape. Of the spies, he considered Burgess the leader of the group. “He held the group together”, he wrote, and, “infused it with his energy”. This contradicted much previously written about the five, most of which considered Philby as the leader. Modin revealed that Burgess alone delivered thousands of pieces of classified material. His efforts allowed the Soviets to be aware of virtually all of the activities and plans of the British Foreign Service, including those of its intelligence activities.