# Is it true the USSR threw their caught spys into an oven? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160 "2002-10-14T00:43:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Patrol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@Cat\_Patrol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Patrol)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/1 "2002-10-14T00:43:09Z")
I had always heard that the USSR would throw their spys into an oven if they caught them spying for the other sided.Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/2 "2002-10-14T01:43:37Z")
Sounds like an urban legend, or a misremembering of the (horrible) fate that awaited some Jewish prisoners in a few of the Nazi death camps. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/3 "2002-10-14T02:21:52Z")
IIRC, near the begining of _Inside the Aquarium_, written by Soviet intelligence officer and defector Victor Suvorov (which is a pseudonym), is an account of traitors found out by the GRU being incinerated. I don’t know how reliable a source Suvorov is, however, nor do I remember many of the details of his claim–I read this book between James Bond novels years ago when I was a kid. Anyway, there’s some corroboration for you–how good it is depends on your opinion of Suvorov, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/4 "2002-10-14T03:17:03Z")
I believe it was **our** spies, not theirs. 🙂 The US, that is. IIRC, this was alleged to have happened to one of the Russians exposed by Aldrich Ames, I think. Wasn’t he the one who supposedly ID’d dozens of Russians on the American payroll? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Patrol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@Cat\_Patrol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Patrol)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/5 "2002-10-14T04:03:23Z")
Thats what I’m talking about Yojimboguy, didnt the USSR throw those agents into ovens? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/6 "2002-10-14T05:40:50Z")
Apologies for posting without adding anything, but I just had to say, for the record: Ewwww! \ And may I just add, Ewwww! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/7 "2002-10-14T07:22:52Z")
**Mephisto** named the source of this idea. Victor Suvorov (real name Vladimir Rezun) describes the fiery end of a GRU colonel who was discovered to be a double agent (i.e., he was working for The West) as shown to him upon his induction to intelligence work. I’ve read all of Suvorov’s books of which I’m aware, and I’ve not yet seen him contradicted, and some of that which I read was later confirmed by other sources. He doesn’t say how often this method of execution was used. From an [Interview with Vladimir Rezun](http://www.videofact.com/english/defectors_12_2_en.html): > [@](#): > > _How much of your books is fact and how much is fiction?_ > > I would divide my books into two categories. The first I would call textbooks where I describe the mechanisms and techniques governing Soviet intelligence. These include _GRU-Soviet Military Intelligence_, _Specnaz_ and _Inside the Soviet Army_. My other books also contain many facts. When writing _Aquarium_, for instance, I had to change the names, pseudonyms, place names and the time of action for a number of reasons, but most of them did take place in reality. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/8 "2002-10-14T07:39:58Z")
Rule 1 - Demonize your enemy. I would take such stories with a grain of salt unless there is strong evidence outside the books mentioned. Maybe as more Soviet era KGB files are exposed something will turn up, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/9 "2002-10-14T11:26:20Z")
Francis Gary Powers–the U2 pilot who was shot down–was not incinerated. (At the time he was shot down, I saw a picture of his shot-down plane in a newspaper with the caption, “Reds Say This Is Spy Plane Wreck.” ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/10 "2002-10-14T11:40:01Z")
Gary Powers was an American citizen. The GRU colonel was, presumably, a Soviet citizen and hence a traitor to his people. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-the-ussr-threw-their-caught-spys-into-an-oven/132160/11 "2002-10-14T11:54:20Z")
Here’s an aside on Powers, from the old _Hollywood Squares:_ Q. What did we receive from the Russians in exchange for convicted spy Rudolf Abel? PAUL LYNDE: The lawnmower we loaned them during World War II. 😃 (It was actually Powers.)