George Blake, famous KGB mole during the Cold War, is dead
George Blake, former British double agent for the Soviets, died on December 26, 2020. Reuters - Alexander Natruskin
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The Russian authorities announced this Saturday, December 26 the death of the former British double agent George Blake, who spied for the Soviet KGB in the 1950s before moving to the East.
He was 98 years old.
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“
Today, the legendary intelligence officer (...) George Blake is no more.
He sincerely loved our country, admired the achievement of our people during World War II,
”Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) spokesman Sergei Ivanov told Tass State Agency.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin
offered his "
sincere condolences
".
"
Blake was a brilliant professional, endowed with particular vitality and courage
," he said in a statement from the Kremlin.
“
Over the years of hard and hard work, he has made a truly invaluable contribution to ensuring strategic parity and maintaining peace on the planet.
The brilliant memory of this legendary man will remain in our hearts forever
, ”added the Russian president.
Valuable information
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, George Blake offered his services to the Soviets in the 1950s after witnessing American bombings on civilian populations in Korea.
He provided the names of hundreds of agents to the KGB and revealed the existence of a secret tunnel in East Berlin used to spy on the Soviets.
Denounced by a Polish double agent, he was sentenced in 1961 to 42 years imprisonment in Great Britain.
He manages to escape prison five years later using a rope ladder and his cell mates.
On the run, George Blake succeeds in crossing the Iron Curtain via the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and goes east, never to leave.
Heroes in Russia
Celebrated as a hero in Moscow, he had received the rank of colonel by the Soviet intelligence services, which later became Russian.
Despite the fall of the USSR to which he had dedicated his life, he never regretted his actions.
George Blake was the last surviving of a famous generation of British double agents, "
moles
" that the USSR had managed to recruit in the midst of the Cold War.
(
With
AFP)
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