Britain's biggest traitor dies at 98

Russia reveals death of Cold War spy Blake

- Andy Lines

GEORGE Blake, Britain’s oldest traitor, died in Russia yesterday at the age of 98.

The MI6 officer’s treachery is believed to have cost the lives of more than 40 fellow agents during the Cold War.

Over a nine-year period, Blake handed information to Soviet handlers that led to the betrayal of hundreds of spies in Eastern Europe and the execution of dozens.

He later said: “I don’t know what I handed over because it was so much.”

And just last week, Blake was honored as the “patriarch” of Russian foreign intelligence.

Last night Sergey Ivanov of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency – formerly the KGB – said: “The bitter news has come. The legendary George Blake is gone. He died of old age, his heart stopped.”