George Blake, famous British double agent, dead at 98

It’s an iconic name from the Cold War and the world of spies that just died out. Former British double agent George Blake, a notorious mole who spied for the Soviet KGB in the 1950s before moving to the East, has died at the age of 98, news agencies said on Saturday. Russian press. “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 the state agency TASS.

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.

Reported by a Polish double agent, he was sentenced in 1961 to 42 years in prison in Britain. He manages to escape from prison five years later using a rope ladder and his cellmates. On the run, George Blake managed to cross the Iron Curtain via the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and moved east forever.

Celebrated as a hero in Moscow, he was awarded the rank of colonel by the Russian intelligence services. 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.