Soviet spy, British double agent George Blake dies in Russia at 98

George Blake, a former British intelligence officer who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union and passed some of the most coveted Western secrets to Moscow, died in Russia. He was 98 years old.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, known as SVR, announced his death on Saturday in a statement that did not provide details. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences and praised Blake as a “brilliant professional” and a man of “remarkable courage.”

As a double agent, Blake laid out a Western plan to eavesdrop on Soviet communications from an underground tunnel into East Berlin. He also unmasked dozens of British agents in Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe, some of whom were executed. Blake has lived in Russia since his daring escape from a British prison in 1966 and received the rank of Russian intelligence colonel.

Britain considered Blake a traitor, but the man never agreed with that assessment and said that he had never really “felt” British.

“To betray, you first have to belong. I never did,” he said.

The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment on Blake’s death.

Born in the Netherlands, Blake joined British intelligence during World War II. He was posted to Korea when war broke out in 1950 and was detained by the communist north. He said he volunteered to work for the Soviet Union after witnessing the relentless US bombing of North Korea.

In a 2017 statement issued through Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Blake emphasized that he decided to switch sides after seeing civilians massacred by the “American military machine.”

“At that time I realized that such conflicts are deadly dangerous for all humanity and I made the most important decision of my life: to cooperate with Soviet intelligence voluntarily and free of charge to help protect peace in the world,” he said Blake.

In a 2012 interview with the Russian government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Blake shared some details of his swashbuckling adventures, including meetings with a Soviet liaison in East Berlin. He said that once a month he would catch a train to East Berlin, make sure they didn’t follow him, and drive to a secret apartment where he and his contact would have a chat accompanied by a glass of Soviet-made wine. sparkling wine.

A Polish defector exposed Blake as a Soviet spy in 1961. He was convicted of espionage charges in Britain and sentenced to 42 years in prison. In October 1966, he boldly escaped with the help of several people he met while in custody.

Blake spent two months in hiding at his assistant’s home and was then driven across Europe to East Berlin in a wooden box attached under a car.

His British wife, whom he left behind along with their three children, divorced him, married a Soviet woman and they had a son. He was celebrated as a hero, decorated with the best medals, and given a country house on the outskirts of Moscow.

In the Soviet Union, Blake had contacts with other British double agents. He said he met regularly with Donald Maclean and Kim Philby, members of the so-called Cambridge Five, and said he and Maclean were particularly close.

Blake said it adapted well to life in Russia and once joked in a meeting with Russian intelligence officials that it is like a “foreign-made car that adapts well to Russian roads.”

“He made a truly invaluable contribution to ensuring strategic parity and preserving peace,” Putin said in his condolences telegram.

Blake noted in his 2017 statement that Russia has become his “second homeland” and thanked SVR officials for their friendship and understanding. He said Russian intelligence officials have a mission “to save the world in a situation where irresponsible politicians have put the danger of nuclear war and the consequent self-destruction of humanity back on the agenda.”