George Blake, British double agent who spied for Soviets, is dead

The famous “mole”, who worked for USSR intelligence in the 1950s, died at the age of 98.

Le Monde avec AFP

Former British double agent George Blake, famous “mole” who spied for the Soviet KGB in the 1950s, died at the age of 98 years old, Russian news agencies announced on Saturday 26 December.

“Today, the legendary intelligence officer (…) George Blake is no more. He sincerely loved our country, admired the feat of our people during the Second World War, “Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) spokesman Sergei Ivanov told state-run news agency TASS.

Unmasked and tried , he was sentenced in 1961 to forty-two years in prison, but he managed to escape in 1966. He took refuge in the USSR. During his trial, George Blake pleaded guilty and admitted that, during his stay in the Foreign Office, he had communicated to his Soviet correspondents all the official documents to which he had access.

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