The Courier (2020) Movie Plot

The Courier recounts the activities of British businessman Greville Wynne in helping the intelligence service of the United Kingdom (MI6) with the penetration of the Soviet nuclear programme during the Cold War. Wynne couriered information from his Soviet source, Oleg Penkovsky, which provided crucial intelligence about Soviet nuclear capabilities amid the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Wynne is approached by spies from MI6 and the CIA and asked to go to Russia posing as an ambitious businessman trying to generate business there. Under the guise of this he has regular contact with high-placed source Oleg Penkovsky to gain intelligence relating to Soviet nuclear plans and missiles. Wynne and Penkovsky are eventually caught and Penkovsky admits "betraying his country" while insisting Wynne was an unwitting courier who knew nothing of the intelligence passed on, which supports Wynne's claim of innocence. Wynne makes sure Penkovsky finally knows his sacrifice was worth it by telling him that the missiles were removed from Cuba. Penkovsky is later executed and buried in an unmarked grave. Wynne is eventually released in a prisoner exchange for a Russian spy, Konon Molody.