Former Soviet double agent Oleg Gordievsky dies at the age of 86

Former Soviet double agent Oleg Gordievsky has died at the age of 86 at his home in Surrey.

Police said that they had been called to an address in Godalming on March 4th after someone found "an 86-year-old man was found dead at the property".

Counter-terrorism police have been leading investigations into the man's death, but it is currently believed that the death is not being treated as suspicious.

Forces added that alongside this, they reassured there was "nothing to suggest any increased risk to members of the public".

Gordievsky was crucial to reducing tensions between the then-Soviet Union and the UK during the early 1980s.

Initially joining the Soviet KGB, Gordievsky eventually sought refuge in the UK, where he gave valuable intelligence into how Soviet leadership was thinking at the time.

His highlight came when he was able to avoid a potential conflict with the West and the Soviet Union, after he revealed then-Soviet leader Yuri Andropov was growing incredibly paranoid of a surprise NATO attack.

The warnings given by Gordievsky narrowly avoided direct confrontation with the USSR, prompting then-US President Ronald Reagan to tone done his anti-Soviet rhetoric.

Gordievsky would eventually prove crucial to the building of bridges between Moscow and the West, helping to form the bond between Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev.

However, he was soon sussed out to be a British spy, and was rescued by UK forces; he was eventually sentenced to death in Russia - in absentia.

After fleeing to the UK, he was given refuge in the UK, offered a safe house in London, going on to write several books about the Soviet regime.

In 2007, his efforts were recognised by Queen Elizabeth II, when she bestowed him the Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and St George Award at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

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