Blake was the last of the line of spies that penetrated British intelligence at the height off the Cold War.

Britain says he exposed hundreds off Western agents, some of whom were executed unmasked in 1961 he was sentenced to 42 years in London's Wormwood Scrubs Prison, 1966.

He escaped, making it across the Iron Curtain.

Blake settled in the Soviet Union, then Russia, where he was fated as a hero.

Speaking in 1992 he said he had believed in the Soviet cause.

If, as I said, communism has succeeded, if we had, it had been able to build a society which was both just where there was equality and where there was abundance off goods, as was the intention, an abundance of goods, then ofcourse, the Soviet empire wouldn't have it is integrated.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to Blake in a statement he called him a professional off vitality and courage.

Blake was awarded a medal by Putin in 2000 and seven and received a pension from the KGB, Russia's former security service.