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'Lucky' British spy Blake turns 90 and feted as hero in Russia
Source: Agencies |
November 12, 2012, Monday
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BRITISH spy turned former Soviet agent George Blake celebrated his 90th birthday yesterday, living a comfortable retirement in Moscow and feted as a hero in Russia but still seen as a traitor in Britain.
Blake was destined to spend most of his life in prison after being found guilty in the 1960s of spying for the former Soviet Union but dramatically escaped his British jail and made it to the safety of Moscow.
He has stayed ever since, marrying a Russian wife, Ida, taking the Russian name of Georgy Ivanovich, becoming a grandfather nine times over and living a quiet life in the Moscow region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took the unusual step of congratulating Blake on his birthday, saying the British spy belonged to the "stellar cast of strong and courageous men."
"You and your colleagues made a great contribution towards peace, ensuring security and strategic parity," Putin said, referring to the Soviet Union's nuclear standoff with the US during the Cold War.
The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) for its part simply titled its own message to Blake "the birthday of a legend."
The SVR noted Blake had been decorated multiple times for his "great achievements in ensuring state security," receiving medals including the Order of Lenin.
"I am a happy man, a very lucky man, exceptionally lucky," Blake said in a rare interview last week with the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
He and Ida had one son, Misha, now a 40-year-old finance expert. Blake also had three sons with his first wife in Britain, from whom he separated after his flight.
Remarkably, all Blake's children will come to Russia to celebrate his 90th birthday with him.
"All this upheaval turned into a miracle. I am in touch with my grandchildren and children in England who often come here. And here I have my wife and son who are very loved," Blake said.
Blake was born in Rotterdam in 1922. His mother and sisters fled Nazi-occupied Netherlands in World War II to England where Blake followed them after fighting with the Dutch resistance.
Even before the end of the war he was working for the British secret service in London, rapidly becoming a specialist on the Soviet Union.
A communist, Blake began supplying secrets to the KGB in 1953 and helped reveal a tunnel the British and US secret services were building in Berlin.
In 1961, Blake was exposed by a Polish defector and sentenced to 42 years in prison. But his escape from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London four years later and flight back to his masters in Moscow has gone down as one of the greatest jail breaks of all time.
Blake was destined to spend most of his life in prison after being found guilty in the 1960s of spying for the former Soviet Union but dramatically escaped his British jail and made it to the safety of Moscow.
He has stayed ever since, marrying a Russian wife, Ida, taking the Russian name of Georgy Ivanovich, becoming a grandfather nine times over and living a quiet life in the Moscow region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took the unusual step of congratulating Blake on his birthday, saying the British spy belonged to the "stellar cast of strong and courageous men."
"You and your colleagues made a great contribution towards peace, ensuring security and strategic parity," Putin said, referring to the Soviet Union's nuclear standoff with the US during the Cold War.
The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) for its part simply titled its own message to Blake "the birthday of a legend."
The SVR noted Blake had been decorated multiple times for his "great achievements in ensuring state security," receiving medals including the Order of Lenin.
"I am a happy man, a very lucky man, exceptionally lucky," Blake said in a rare interview last week with the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
He and Ida had one son, Misha, now a 40-year-old finance expert. Blake also had three sons with his first wife in Britain, from whom he separated after his flight.
Remarkably, all Blake's children will come to Russia to celebrate his 90th birthday with him.
"All this upheaval turned into a miracle. I am in touch with my grandchildren and children in England who often come here. And here I have my wife and son who are very loved," Blake said.
Blake was born in Rotterdam in 1922. His mother and sisters fled Nazi-occupied Netherlands in World War II to England where Blake followed them after fighting with the Dutch resistance.
Even before the end of the war he was working for the British secret service in London, rapidly becoming a specialist on the Soviet Union.
A communist, Blake began supplying secrets to the KGB in 1953 and helped reveal a tunnel the British and US secret services were building in Berlin.
In 1961, Blake was exposed by a Polish defector and sentenced to 42 years in prison. But his escape from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London four years later and flight back to his masters in Moscow has gone down as one of the greatest jail breaks of all time.
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