Just a thought...
I read "Thank You Comrade Stalin" recently. It's all about Soviet propaganda, and one of the things that stood out was the way the Party kept the population ignorant of the outside world.
And then it struck me--would the Soviet government allow Illya to return? He'd be a clear danger to them, not only because he's a trained agent who has been working for an international agency, but because he's travelled most of the world and experienced everything from prison camps to presidential palaces. He'd know a lie when he saw one, and would be extremely difficult to shut up.
(Leaving aside whether Illya would want to return home once he'd finished his stint with U.N.C.L.E. But he would have been sent abroad during the Krushchev which was relatively open, and reached the end of his career as a field agent during the Brezhnev era when Russia closed in on itself again. Whether he wanted to defect or not, Illya might have eventually found himself in exile.)
And then it struck me--would the Soviet government allow Illya to return? He'd be a clear danger to them, not only because he's a trained agent who has been working for an international agency, but because he's travelled most of the world and experienced everything from prison camps to presidential palaces. He'd know a lie when he saw one, and would be extremely difficult to shut up.
(Leaving aside whether Illya would want to return home once he'd finished his stint with U.N.C.L.E. But he would have been sent abroad during the Krushchev which was relatively open, and reached the end of his career as a field agent during the Brezhnev era when Russia closed in on itself again. Whether he wanted to defect or not, Illya might have eventually found himself in exile.)