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“The legendary explorer, SVR of Russia, died today [Užsienio žvalgybos tarnybos] Colonel George Blake of the mission, “said a press release from SVR spokesman Sergei Ivanov, distributed by news agencies.
“He sincerely loved our country, he admired the popular exploits of the Great Patriotic War,” Ivanov added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the former KGB agent himself, on Saturday expressed “their deepest condolences” to Blake’s family and friends.
In a statement posted on the Kremlin’s website, the Russian leader noted Blake’s “invaluable contribution to ensuring strategic parity and maintaining peace on the planet.”
Born in Rotterdam in 1922, Blake participated in the Nazi resistance movement in the occupied Netherlands during World War II and later went to England, where recognition began.
After learning Russian, Blake was sent to Seoul in 1948 to gather information on Soviet activities. When the Korean War broke out in the 1950s, North Korean communist forces took him prisoner and offered to cooperate with Soviet intelligence. He later said the decision was prompted by the vicious US aviation bombings that Blake was seeing in Korea.
Upon his return to England, he acted as a double agent, turning over the names of hundreds of British foreign intelligence MI6 agents to the KGB.
In 1953, Blake informed his liaison officers that the US Central Intelligence Agency and the British Secret Intelligence Agency (SIS) had organized a covert operation during which a tunnel had been dug in Berlin leading to the lines of communication between Soviet forces stationed in Germany. In 1956, the tunnel was allegedly discovered “accidentally” by Soviet intelligence, and the resulting scandal had major political consequences.
In 1961, Mr. Blake was unmasked and sentenced to 42 years in prison. Five years later, he escaped from a rope ladder with the help of three roommates. He managed to reach East Germany and head to the Soviet Union, where he continued to work for SVR, renamed Georgiy Bechter.
In Moscow, G. Blake was considered a hero and the Russian intelligence service awarded him the rank of colonel.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he said he never regretted his actions.
Blake was one of the last British dual agents recruited by the USSR during the Cold War.
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