The Mystery of the Cold War Spy Who Disappeared | True Life Spy Stories

Nicholas Shadrin, born Nikolai Artamonov, was a high-ranking Soviet naval officer who made a life-altering decision in the 1950s. Disillusioned by the Soviet regime, he defected to the West while on a mission in Europe, seeking asylum from the United States. Over time, Shadrin became an asset for U.S. intelligence, providing valuable information about Soviet naval operations.
However, his life took a mysterious turn when, years later, he agreed to participate in a dangerous double-agent mission. He planned to meet Soviet agents in Vienna, but after that fateful meeting, he vanished without a trace. His disappearance left both U.S. and Soviet authorities scrambling for answers.
Was Shadrin abducted, or did something more sinister unfold in the shadows of Cold War espionage?
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The artwork featured in this video was handdrawn by Ashleigh Ann Hilton:
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Thumbnail design by Roderick Brydon of KLR Custom Book Covers & Illustrations:
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Primary sources and further reading (afiiliate links):
📕 Shadrin: The Spy Who Never Came Back - amzn.to/3XF90yH
#philipthompson #truelifespystories #nicholasshadrin

[@PhilipThompson]

The artwork featured in the opening sequence of this video was handdrawn by Ashleigh Ann Hilton. What a pleasure it was to work with such a talented artist. She takes comissions! Check out her Instagram page: 📷 instagram.com/ash.a.p_art?igsh=MXE0ajEwZXNlNWUyYw==

[@TheChronozoan]

Her work is so good!

[@leannegander796]

Love the visuals! ❤

[@relwalretep]

That's some impressive Procreate work!

[@vkan1991]

Hey Phillip! The CIA handlers should never have let him go alone like that to meet his KGB counterparts. No matter how positive it may have been earlier on, it was always doomed. Great video as always!

[@Ragnarr1453]

Great story! Hadn’t heard about this one before. Keep up the good work!

[@Son_of_Mandalore]

Yet another masterclass in research, scripting, editing, and production of a fascinating story that, regardless of how well the more engaged or informed members of your channel are with this type of information. Superbly written, superlatively narrated, and gripping throughout; I don't know how you keep coming up with new material, in the same genre, that continues to fascinate, inform, and tantalise. A day with a KZbin notification of one of your stories is always exciting and I look forward to them now just as much as I ever have, you continue to make the best content in this genre that I have found on KZbin and I am grateful to be a small part, as a subscriber, of that journey. I look forward to the next post to see what you have in store for us next. I won't say "keep up the good work" as it is always unparalleled and utterly absorbing.

[@Rhombohedral]

Vienna is not exactly a place to visit as a USSR defector , Vienna The hotbed of spies and close to the eastern block

[@newworldordernyus]

Typical CIA fuckup, I've dealt with people who had real time experience with how the CIA recklessness keeps blowing their agents covers if not being played with the foreign adversaries intelligence all along as this story was about. That's why CIA's human intelligence has been getting very poor, just look at how china has infiltrated every institution in America while the last time the CIA had a functioning human assets network in China was years ago when they reckless use of if I remember correctly a video game chatroom for communication that was easily compromised by the Chinese that had their double agent amongst the recruits (or probably higher ups too) resulted when all their assets were rounded up throughout China in a single day and never to be seen or heard of again! Long track record of fuckups in many other hot countries including the Iranians cooked up intelligence that spared the mullahs from being punished for their planning and financing of 9/11 only to give the CIA fake Intel that Saddam did it and only to get America waste trillions fighting the jihadis that only took Iran regime and their allies in Moscow and Beijing millions to prop up in Iraq and Afghanistan

[@nohalfmeasures2773]

There and Antwerp. They were known for being a place with diamonds and an over-abundance of spies

[@Rhombohedral]

@@nohalfmeasures2773𝔖𝔭𝔦𝔢𝔰 & 𝔡𝔦𝔞𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔡𝔰 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎 𝓮𝓷 𝓵𝓮𝓴𝓴𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓽 𝓴𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓮 𝓰𝓮 𝓴𝓻𝓲𝓳𝓰𝓮 𝓸𝓹 𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝔃𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓰 𝓸𝓹 𝓭𝓮 𝓪𝓫𝓭𝓲𝓳 𝓽𝓮 𝓟𝓸𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓵

[@lukeonuke]

The summer oven is finaly over, its a light drizzle and im confy under my blanket after a great time at the gym and a shower. Now i see a new video from Philip Thompson. Life is good.

[@GaryPritchard]

What an intriguing story. Another brilliant video. Well done Philip. The original artwork at the start of the video are amazing.

[@TheNeonParadox]

It's an illustration of the failure of the KZbin algorithm that I'm only just now finding your channel. I'm kind of obsessed with this stuff.

[@philio27]

Had been waiting as patiently as I could for another episode. This one was well worth the wait, as usual. Great artist depictions as well. Very happy to have found this channel. Keep up the great work!

[@Knate1104]

20:44 it’s no secret to the KGB that he defected. So altering his physical appearance, while using his original name, makes sense

[@AladinSarsippiusSulemanagic]

Great story as always, coupled with quality production and delivered with professionalism. Thanks for your hard work sir👏

[@davidc3839]

This is an excellent story, well constructed and delivered. Your writing and narration helped me see the story play out in my mind's eye. I visited relatives in Poland at the end of communism and had an idea of what life was like there. Thank you for your hard work, which I enjoyed. This brave man was let down by America, who could not see how vengeful the USSR and Putin's Russia can be.

[@TheChronozoan]

WOO first time being here on day 1! Can't wait to hear this story! HOOHOOHOO LETS GOOOOOOO ON A JOURNEY WITH THE GREAT SPY LOREMASTER

[@46bovine]

Thanks, Phil, great narrative.

[@JohnSmith-tr9us]

One of the best put together vids I've seen in recent times, subbed.

[@mxchel2361]

I really look forward to each upload!

[@wolfgangpeter2995]

Nice thanks! Cheers from Vienna 😊

[@shantanusapru]

Awesome tale!! Well narrated!!

[@idontknowwhattoputheremmmm9184]

Great as usual man

[@hakangustavsson3538]

Surprising story! Although Shadrin first defected to my home country, I had never heard of him. Incredibly risky and foolhearted to make him participate in a game with the KGB. Hopefully it could not happen today! RIP.

[@davidanderson2557]

He flew too close to sun. That was never going work give the KGB "chicken feed"

[@Libyan_Tripoli]

My favourite spy documentary channel. Thank you guys 🎉

[@aryabastani]

Great content. Keep them coming please.

[@Ammoalchemistreloaded]

Best youtube channel

[@Im_No_Expert_72]

Great work, thanks 👍

[@hypnophonz]

Excellent ! ! !

[@jotafungo4622]

Thanks for sharing

[@mistyblues6762]

Thank you for another interesting video

[@colinstewart1432]

Im familiar with this story. For the full story, read the book called " Widows " by William Corson & Joseph Trento. Great work telling this story in an accessible way.

[@robertalpy]

I get the feeling that the whole operation was just to see if he would turn again. Would they risk someone they truly trusted like that?

[@my-mysknitsaloon]

Oh great artwork - true artist ❣Most likely they killed him. Very interesting cold war spy story. Thanks PT 💋

[@crusted_over_pink-sock]

This has total "bedtime storys" & "wartime storys" vibes

[@FrithonaHrududu02127]

Excellent Documentary . Deserves way more likes

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

What would an appropriate amount be?

[@FrithonaHrududu02127]

@@rudolphguarnacci197 funny thing is, I'd forgotten to like it so I'm just a shit eating hypocrite

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

@@FrithonaHrududu02127 At least you're not from Shinolah.

[@FrithonaHrududu02127]

@@rudolphguarnacci197 odd you mention shinola, I was going through some of my grandfather's stuff, he died last year and amongst his Korean War stuff usmc , his brothers ww2 European campaign stuff and his other brothers navy stuff from the pacific, the only brother that didn't make it home....I found a half a can of shinola

[@montananerd8244]

Fascinating story & I was delighted to hear the name “Ewa” - most of the world pronounces my name “evver” or “Evva” and I’d heard it was a real name but hadn’t tracked it down.

[@0therun1t21]

How did I miss this notification? Wel I'm here, so I'm happy. It seems like we should treat defectors a little better. Sure get to the bottom of it, find oit their motivations, but if they're treated like criminals here it might make them regret defecting and want to be a double agents.

[@markrossow6303]

and thanks for the images of Russia in WW2 -- as an American, I usually encounter only U.S. or British photos / movie film

[@rollinburket]

4:01 15th percentile would be quite bad. unless you meant top 15 percent, or 85th percentile. which would be, uh, quite good

[@PhilipThompson]

Big oof, sorry! 😅

[@rollinburket]

@@PhilipThompson happens to the best of us, no need to apologize. absolutely love your videos, great work my dude

[@joshuafaircloth4098]

YES

[@warrenpeece1726]

Shadrin's story was also well covered in "Widows," along with the even more fascinating story of John Paisley.

[@ohmypaper]

16:10 not exactly, but very close: the antagonist in “The Captain’s Daughter” is named “Aleksej Shvabrin”, not “Shadrin”. Yeah, I know, those bloody Russian names… 😂 otherwise, a great video, thank you

[@untragoantesdelaguerra3293]

Excelentes vídeos. Gracias por los subtítulos en español.Un saludo. 🇪🇸 👍👍👍👍

[@carolking6355]

What a horrible story and all in the name of love. I hope his wife managed to build a life for herself and continued to be successful in her dental business. It would have been nice if they had,had children.

[@lughd5578]

That poor russian sailor lmao. Bro got mini kidnapped...

[@PhilipThompson]

@@lughd5578 yes, tough break for him! I wonder whether his superiors truly believed that he wasn't in on it...

[@sointu123]

Åland isn't part of Sweden, it is part of Finland.

[@leisti]

I think the island in question is Öland. If the speaker doesn't know how the Scandinavian letters (åäö) are pronounced, it might come sounding like "Åland".

[@PhilipThompson]

@@leisti yes, it was Öland. Please excuse my poor pronunciation.

[@sointu123]

@@leisti That makes sense! Thanks!

[@GeorgeLiquor]

This is definitely the same guy who narrated the Canadian royal wedding from South Park

[@freemindthinkerezrapound5071]

For the Americans this was a humilitating example of their Hollywood mentality thinking about using the guy in the first place

[@racheddar]

Please do an episode on Hezbollah espionage.

[@Andres-v7r2h]

Never trust a spy

[@robertalpy]

We never did do murder or espionage as well as the Russians. Skullduggery comes natural to them. We should have taken better care of our guys though. He was hardly the only one we lost.

[@antoinesilva1527]

I agree. In integration of technology, the West was generally superior, but a bit naive when it comes time to pull the trigger.

[@BlackAfrikan]

Never heard of this man…but I felt as if I were in a master class on espionage. Another great one. I believe that all Russian defectors know that they are in danger of being poisoned or offed in another way even decades later.

[@VRed224]

36:32-36:52 USA might had good intention but the statement in the highlighted time range is disheartening 😢 It's never a wise thing to be a double agent. Agency A might delete him, Agency B might also do that, other countries (especially countries involved in proxy wars during cold war) could have deleted him as well.

[@vandarkholme4745]

That's why I never want to touch anything military related in my life. From this to the amount of money they overspend on anything, and their treatment of veterans.

[@thomasmyers9128]

You would be surprised at what you use everyday that was invented for the military…. GPS is only one of many

[@3bydacreekside]

True I was in the CAP That's close enough for me

[@petrovichbauer5105]

Traitor

[@duckfilms3662]

​@@petrovichbauer5105Bait used to be believable.

[@conzmoleman]

I love how you never even thought to say “I don’t want to invade other countries and murder innocent people for no reason.” Nah, not even a consideration for ya. Certainly not in your top three. Not even close. Americans are morally grotesque.

[@IsItEvenWorthIt]

How can I find Nikolai Artamonov's huac testimony

[@KapiteinKrentebol]

Next episode the exploits ot the distraught sailor Popov? I mean what happened to him?

[@weaponsgradepotato]

Is this a reupload? I swear I’ve been seeing this thumbnail all week

[@PhilipThompson]

Nope!

[@brentbeacham9691]

J J Angelton probably had him burned out of pure paranoia.

[@dmitrym3757]

Hi! Why don't you mirror your episodes on KZbin Music? It would make a great podcast

[@PhilipThompson]

@@dmitrym3757 I never thought of that. I'll look into it, thanks!

[@arthurwilnow9795]

A walk-in says he is tasked with recruiting prominent defector?!? Igor was a plant from the moment he was assigned to DC bureau, CIA must have been starving to fall for his chicken-feed. They got played!

[@maximiliankolbe_NIN]

Great video. Wish more info would have been revealed once the Soviet Union fell RE: the story AFTER he entered that fateful backseat.

[@marinazagrai1623]

max...do you realize how little Nicholai meant to the Soviets? They would shoot him for treason whatever info he gave them. This system relies on its single party govt and people become a blur, so if anything happened to anyone nobody would notice. Everybody was trying to get into the Party to become relevant and rise above others in importance.

[@katherineserrano9076]

You mean the communist version of the Bund

[@EthanCampbell-g3j]

I like the no face cam. I miss AI voice. the quality is still there tho :)

[@wisemintapp]

You need to re-examine your sourcing for the snatch and where it took place and why.

[@miked451]

What’s the rest of the story?

[@joe18750]

Lol! You throw the spaghetti against the wall without any veracity of cause. Make your case first before you start making demands.

[@markc6714]

Great channel BUT this has to be the most boring, long winded and uneventful "spy story" in history. If you're finding it hard to do ww2 spies, maybe spread your wings into events rather than people like submarine cable tapping, civil war spies have some cool stories I've heard

[@stuart8663]

Scroll on by if you don't like it. I found it riveting.

[@markc6714]

@@stuart8663 then make your own post. This is my post and my opinion. Sod off

[@charlesflint9048]

@@stuart8663me too!.

[@elboboalgrammari6520]

​@markc6714 pretty good sized opinion of yourself? Shame it isn't justified.

[@brianbell2088]

The narration is unbearable.

[@johnbecker5213]

yes i agree he used to use the best sounding british narration i had ever heard now he is using his voice which is .... well..... not so great

[@antoinesilva1527]

@@johnbecker5213 Many actually preferred a natural voice, which is why he switched in the first place.

[@-VOR]

45:25 the Mitrokhin Archive confirms he died in the back seat from the sedative. And again man, the KGB stopped using the Lubyanka for interrogation by the mid 60's. Moving their HQ north of Moscow. Then Mitrokhin started copying the entire KGB archive, as he was in charge of consolidating it and moving it to their new HQ.