Cold War double agent George Blake dies at 98
BALANCE OF POWER
George Blake was a British spy who passed secrets to the Soviet KGB. He is considered a hero in Russia after exposing hundreds of Western agents during the Cold War.
George Blake at a news conference in Moscow in 1992
George Blake, a British spy who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union, has died aged 98, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday.
An agent for the British foreign intelligence service MI6, Blake named hundreds of Western agents to the Soviet KGB in the 1950s. His case was among the most notorious of the Cold War.
Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1922, Blake joined the Dutch resistance in World War II before escaping to Britain in January 1943. After serving in the British Navy, he joined MI6 in 1944.
After serving three years in Hamburg, he was sent to Korea to gather intelligence on Communist North Korea, Communist China and the Soviet Far East. He was captured and imprisoned in 1950 when North Korean soldiers captured Seoul during the Korean War.
He returned to Britain in 1953 after his released and was sent to East Berlin two years later. He collected information on Soviet spies, but also passed secrets to Moscow about British and US operations.
Exposed in the 1960s
Blake was exposed as a double agent in 1961 and was sentenced to 42 years in prison. He broke out of prison five years later using a rope ladder with the help of three cellmates and fled across the Iron Curtain to the Soviet Union where he would live out his remaining days.
Blake, who went by the Russian name Georgy Ivanovich, was awarded the rank of colonel by the Russian intelligence service, from which he received a pension. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent himself, awarded him a medal in 2007.
Putin expressed his "deep condolences" to Blake's family and friends. "The memory of this legendary person will be preserved forever in our hearts," the Russian leader wrote in a condolence message on the Kremlin website.
British double agent George Blake, who spied for Soviets during Cold War, dies at 98
December 26, 2020
Agence France-Presse
George Blake, a former MI6 officer who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union, walking in Moscow on June 28, 2001. © Yury Martyanov/Kommersant Photo/AFP
George Blake, who died in Russia on Saturday at the age of 98, was the last in a line of British spies whose secret work for the Soviet Union humiliated th
Britain says he exposed the identities of hundreds of Western agents across Eastern Europe in the 1950s, some of whom were executed as a result of his treason.
His case was among the most notorious of the Cold War, alongside those of a separate ring of British double agents known as the Cambridge Five.
Unmasked as a Soviet spy in 1961, Blake was sentenced to 42 years in London's Wormwood Scrubs prison. In a classic cloak-and-dagger story, he escaped in 1966 with the help of other inmates and two peace activists, and was smuggled out of Britain in a camper van. He made it through Western Europe undiscovered and crossed the Iron Curtain into East Berlin.00:00
He spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union and then Russia, where he was feted as a hero.
Reflecting on his life in an interview with Reuters in Moscow in 1991, Blake said he had believed the world was on the eve of Communism.
"It was an ideal which, if it could have been achieved, would have been well worth it," he said.
"I thought it could be, and I did what I could to help it, to build such a society. It has not proved possible. But I think it is a noble idea and I think humanity will return to it."
Becoming a committed communist
Blake was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on Nov. 11, 1922, to a Dutch mother and an Egyptian Jewish father who was a naturalised Briton.
He escaped from the Netherlands in World War Two after joining the Dutch resistance as a courier and reached Britain in January 1943. After joining the British navy, he started working for the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in 1944.
After the war, Blake served briefly in the German city of Hamburg and studied Russian at Cambridge University before being sent in 1948 to Seoul where he gathered intelligence on Communist North Korea, Communist China and the Soviet Far East.
He wAs captured and imprisoned when North Korean troops took Seoul after the Korean War began in 1950. It was during his time in a North Korean prison that he became a committed Communist, reading the works of Karl Marx and feeling outrage at heavy U.S. bombing of North Korea.
After his release in 1953, he returned to Britain and in 1955 was sent by MI6 to Berlin, where he collected information on Soviet spies but also passed secrets to Moscow about British and U.S operations.
George Blake was a British spy who passed secrets to the Soviet KGB. He is considered a hero in Russia after exposing hundreds of Western agents during the Cold War.
George Blake at a news conference in Moscow in 1992
George Blake, a British spy who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union, has died aged 98, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday.
An agent for the British foreign intelligence service MI6, Blake named hundreds of Western agents to the Soviet KGB in the 1950s. His case was among the most notorious of the Cold War.
Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1922, Blake joined the Dutch resistance in World War II before escaping to Britain in January 1943. After serving in the British Navy, he joined MI6 in 1944.
After serving three years in Hamburg, he was sent to Korea to gather intelligence on Communist North Korea, Communist China and the Soviet Far East. He was captured and imprisoned in 1950 when North Korean soldiers captured Seoul during the Korean War.
He returned to Britain in 1953 after his released and was sent to East Berlin two years later. He collected information on Soviet spies, but also passed secrets to Moscow about British and US operations.
Exposed in the 1960s
Blake was exposed as a double agent in 1961 and was sentenced to 42 years in prison. He broke out of prison five years later using a rope ladder with the help of three cellmates and fled across the Iron Curtain to the Soviet Union where he would live out his remaining days.
Blake, who went by the Russian name Georgy Ivanovich, was awarded the rank of colonel by the Russian intelligence service, from which he received a pension. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent himself, awarded him a medal in 2007.
Putin expressed his "deep condolences" to Blake's family and friends. "The memory of this legendary person will be preserved forever in our hearts," the Russian leader wrote in a condolence message on the Kremlin website.
British double agent George Blake, who spied for Soviets during Cold War, dies at 98
December 26, 2020
Agence France-Presse
George Blake, a former MI6 officer who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union, walking in Moscow on June 28, 2001. © Yury Martyanov/Kommersant Photo/AFP
George Blake, who died in Russia on Saturday at the age of 98, was the last in a line of British spies whose secret work for the Soviet Union humiliated th
Britain says he exposed the identities of hundreds of Western agents across Eastern Europe in the 1950s, some of whom were executed as a result of his treason.
His case was among the most notorious of the Cold War, alongside those of a separate ring of British double agents known as the Cambridge Five.
Unmasked as a Soviet spy in 1961, Blake was sentenced to 42 years in London's Wormwood Scrubs prison. In a classic cloak-and-dagger story, he escaped in 1966 with the help of other inmates and two peace activists, and was smuggled out of Britain in a camper van. He made it through Western Europe undiscovered and crossed the Iron Curtain into East Berlin.00:00
He spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union and then Russia, where he was feted as a hero.
Reflecting on his life in an interview with Reuters in Moscow in 1991, Blake said he had believed the world was on the eve of Communism.
"It was an ideal which, if it could have been achieved, would have been well worth it," he said.
"I thought it could be, and I did what I could to help it, to build such a society. It has not proved possible. But I think it is a noble idea and I think humanity will return to it."
Becoming a committed communist
Blake was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on Nov. 11, 1922, to a Dutch mother and an Egyptian Jewish father who was a naturalised Briton.
He escaped from the Netherlands in World War Two after joining the Dutch resistance as a courier and reached Britain in January 1943. After joining the British navy, he started working for the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in 1944.
After the war, Blake served briefly in the German city of Hamburg and studied Russian at Cambridge University before being sent in 1948 to Seoul where he gathered intelligence on Communist North Korea, Communist China and the Soviet Far East.
He wAs captured and imprisoned when North Korean troops took Seoul after the Korean War began in 1950. It was during his time in a North Korean prison that he became a committed Communist, reading the works of Karl Marx and feeling outrage at heavy U.S. bombing of North Korea.
After his release in 1953, he returned to Britain and in 1955 was sent by MI6 to Berlin, where he collected information on Soviet spies but also passed secrets to Moscow about British and U.S operations.
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