Sexpionage, "The Honeytrap" Used To This Day To Entrap & Get Secrets

The first known honey pot scheme was used to entrap Leon Trotsky by Stalin. It is still used and it is still deadly effective. Here's how it works against men and women!

Satellites, wiretaps, hi tech can gather information, but nothing is as effective as a beautiful man or woman.

The Cold War saw a huge espionage on both sides of the iron curtain, with each superpower doing anything it could to gain the upper hand on its enemy. One of the more inventive methods of spying that the Soviet Union implemented was training "Romeos". These men would be moulded into the perfect man and sent to win the hearts of lonely female office workers in government institutions in order to steal confidential information.

Sexpionage tells the stories of two women who were seduced by secret agents working for the East German intelligence service, the Stasi. At the height of the Cold War the Stasi would regularly despatch their agents to the West German capital, Bonn, armed with the task of forming long term relationships with single women working at embassies or government ministries. These women were unwittingly tapped for top secret information which was then passed on to the East. Both Gabriele Kliem and Margaret Hike had no idea that their lovers were spies until both women were arrested for treason. This film tells the story of the years they spent with their secret agent lovers and explores the feelings they are left with after the most significant relationships of their lives were revealed to be a sham.

Throughout history, spies have used sex, seduction and emotional manipulation to achieve their shadowy aims. In this 3-part anthology, Vanessa Kirby joins espionage authors Henry Schlesinger and Michael Smith to uncover the real stories behind some of history's most explosive honeytrap operations. In Part 1, Michael Smith relates an audacious plot by the Israeli Mossad in the turbulent 1960s. Mossad officers targeted Iraqi pilots, hoping to seduce them into defecting with a MiG-21 - the next-gen fighter plane favoured by Israel's enemies. In a bloody and dangerous mission spanning three continents, the outcome played a part in changing the face of the Middle-East. How far would YOU go to level the playing field?

In Part 2, Henry Schlesinger reveals the unlikely life and times of a celebrity spy. In 2010, Russian property entrepreneur Anna Chapman was exposed as one of 10 deep-cover agents working on US soil. Armed with SVR tradecraft, nightlife connections and charm to spare, she was linked to a variety of rich and influential men as she rose through the upper echelons of Western society - waiting for the moment to strike.

In Part 3, Michael and Henry tell the real spy story behind one of history's most famous murders. When Ramón Mercader attacked Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky at his home in Mexico, the evidence suggested a crime of passion. In reality, it was the culmination of a long and intricate honeypot operation by Stalin's secret service.

Behind the paywall: Mossad Sparrows: Honey Trap Spies & Femme Fatale Spy Secrets & Dangerous Liaisons: Honey Trap Spies