The famous British spy George Blake died. How he had become a true legend

Former British double agent George Blake, the famous “book” he spied for the Soviet KGB in the 1950s, has died at the age of 98, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday, cited by AFP.

“Today, the legendary intelligence officer … George Blake no longer exists. He sincerely loved our country, he admired the achievements of our people during World War II,” the TASS spokesman told the TASS news agency. Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency (SVR), Sergei Ivanov.

Former member of the resistance in the Netherlands during World War II, then agent of MI6, the British foreign intelligence services, during the Cold War, Blake offered his services to the Soviets in the 1950s after witnessing the American bombing of the population. civilians in Korea, writes AFP.

Blake provided the KGB with the names of hundreds of agents and revealed the existence of a secret tunnel in East Berlin used to spy on the Soviets.

Denounced by a Polish double agent, Blake was sentenced in 1961 to 42 years in prison in the UK, but managed to escape from prison five years later with the help of a rope ladder and his cellmates.

The fugitive manages to cross the Iron Curtain through the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and reaches the East. Hailed as a hero in Moscow, Blake receives the rank of colonel in the Russian intelligence services. Despite the dismemberment of the USSR, to which he dedicated his life, Blake never regretted his deeds.

George Blake was the last survivor of a famous generation of British double agents, “books” that the USSR managed to recruit in the Cold War.