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George Blake, a former British intelligence officer who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union and passed some of the most coveted Western secrets to Moscow, has died in Russia. He was 98.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, known as SVR, announced his death on Saturday in a statement which didn't give any details. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences, hailing Blake as a "brilliant professional" and a man of "remarkable courage".

As a double agent, Blake exposed a Western plan to eavesdrop on Soviet communications from an underground tunnel into East Berlin. He also unmasked scores of British agents in Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe, some of whom were executed. Blake has lived in Russia since his daring escape from a British prison in 1966 and was given the rank of Russian intelligence colonel.

Britain considered Blake to be a traitor, but the man himself never agreed with that assessment and said he had never actually "felt" British.

"To betray, you first have to belong. I never belonged," he said.

The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment on Blake's death.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised George Blake as a "brilliant professional" and a man of "remarkable courage". Photo / AP

Born in the Netherlands, Blake joined British intelligence during World War II. He was posted to Korea when the war there erupted in 1950 and was detained by the Communist north. He said he volunteered to work for the Soviet Union after witnessing the relentless US bombing of North Korea.

In a statement issued in 2017 through the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Blake emphasised that he decided to switch sides after seeing civilians massacred by the "American military machine".

"I realised back then that such conflicts are deadly dangerous for the entire humankind and made the most important decision in my life — to cooperate with Soviet intelligence voluntarily and for free to help protect peace in the world," Blake said.

In a 2012 interview with the Russian government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Blake shared some details of his cloak-and-dagger adventures, including meetings with a Soviet liaison in East Berlin. He said that once a month he would take a train to East Berlin, make sure that he wasn't being followed, and go by car to a secret apartment where he and his contact would have a talk accompanied by a glass of Soviet-made sparkling wine.