Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TRAITOR STILL
THE dacha is in an idyllic rural setting, nestling serenely amid a pine forest 60 miles from Moscow.
But one thing sets an ominous tone – its 10ft security fence. Inside lives a man who knows exactly who he wants to speak to, and who he doesn’t.
For this is the retreat of the traitor responsible for the deaths of more than 40 of MI6’S finest – Britain’s most notorious double agent George Blake.
Recently he has had a lot to say about why he hates the West.
However, when we tracked him down, the man branded a “traitor” in our 1961 front page, was less keen to speak.
Now 95, many might have assumed he died years ago. But the spy who betrayed so many is not only still alive, he’s issuing a new call to arms against the West.
Just two months ago, in an extraordinary outburst to young recruits working for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, he said: “There is a real war going on between good and evil.
“I believe you will serve our common cause selflessly and courageously.”
Railing against an unnamed foe, believed to be the West or the US, he added that intelligence officers were battling a “devious enemy, the possibility of whose final defeat gives me energy to live”.
BLOODY
He went on: “Your mission will be a difficult one – to save the planet when its destruction in nuclear war has again become a possibility due to irresponsible politicians and where terrorism leaves its bloody traces everywhere.”
His words, released in a statement, show none of his hatred has abated.
We found his retreat is down a dirt track an hour-and-a-half ’s drive from the Russian capital. He lives with second wife Ida in the fenced property, surrounded by tall fir trees, as a guest of the Russian authorities.
It’s a quiet, exclusive neighbourhood and Blake is never disturbed.
With fellow Mirrorman Ian Vogler, I pressed the intercom. No reply. Several more tries were no more effective. Not a curtain twitched, not a sound from the other side of the fence.
The old traitor was there for sure. But today he was answering no questions.
Meanwhile, local residents had no idea the most famous living spy was in their midst. Vitally Natko said: “George Blake lives here? Wow! I didn’t know. He is still a big name in Russia. I saw the statement he released recently but I had no idea he was a neighbour.”
It was in this now-infamous statement to young Russian spies that Blake recalled the precise moment he decided to become a double agent.
He said that after seeing civilians killed by “the US military machine”