A FORMER KGB double agent, Oleg Gordievsky, who defected from Russia to Britain has died aged 86.

Gordievsky, who was believed to have been one of Britain’s most important spies, was found dead at his home in Surrey.

The infamous spy was the highest ranking Russian official to defect to the UK and was even smuggled out of the Soviet Union in the boot of a car to safety.

Gordievsky later starred in the BBC series Secrets and Spies: A Nuclear Game, which delved into his incredible life.

His work saw him provide crucial information to the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985.

The double agents most important work as a spy was to warn Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan about the dangerous paranoia that ran through Soviet leaders.

This came during the later stages of the Cold War when the world came fearfully close to all out nuclear war.

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