Philby Appears on Soviet TV, Praises Graham Greene

Former double agent Kim Philby appeared on national Soviet television Thursday for the first time since his defection to the Soviet Union in 1963.

Philby, 75, was interviewed for 10 minutes on a program dedicated to British author Graham Greene, Philby’s lifelong friend and one-time subordinate in British intelligence.

Philby, appearing healthy and speaking in English, answered questions from Soviet commentator Genrik Borovik, a fluent English speaker. The interview was dubbed in Russian.

The 1951 defection to the Soviet Union of British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean led to Philby’s unmasking 12 years later. British intelligence agents were about to arrest him when he fled to the Soviet Union in 1963.

Philby, interviewed in his Moscow apartment, said he and Greene became friends in the 1930s, when Greene worked for him in British intelligence in western Africa. Their friendship blossomed despite vastly different ideological perspectives.

The two men lunched together daily while both lived in London in 1942, but Philby said he later cut off contact with Greene because he did not want to compromise a friend and an innocent man.

“I did not want him to fall under suspicion,” Philby said.