First he spied for Great Britain, then for the Soviet Union – now the former agent George Blake has died at the age of 98. The Russian foreign intelligence service SWR announced on Saturday in the capital Moscow, according to the state agency Tass.
“He genuinely loved our country.” Blake admired the performance of the Soviet people in World War II, a spokesman said. He was a legendary intelligence officer.
The ex-agent, born in Rotterdam in 1922, was transferred to South Korea as a young spy for the British secret service after the Second World War.
Double agent George Blake has died at the age of 98
After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 he was taken prisoner. He then spied for the Soviet Union.
When this was discovered, a British court sentenced him to 42 years in prison in 1961. In 1966 he managed to escape from prison. He fled to Moscow via Berlin. Since then he has lived in Russia.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who was also an intelligence agent, had congratulated him on Blake’s 90th birthday. On his 95th birthday, he had called on Russia’s agents to fight good against evil. (Dpa)