Former KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky, who became a double agent and worked for the British foreign intelligence agency MI6, has died in Britain at the age of 86, the BBC reported.
Gordievsky was recruited by MI6 in the 1970s before becoming the KGB's resident in the UK in 1982. He was exposed and recalled to Moscow three years later, from where, with the help of MI6, he managed to escape and end up in Britain, where he continues to advise Western intelligence services.
In September 1985 Britain expelled 31 Soviet diplomats from the country, accusing them of espionage. This act was linked by the then authorities in Moscow to Gordievsky's escape. In response, 25 employees of the British diplomatic mission were expelled from the USSR.