November 14, 2007 Vladimir Putin honours traitor George Blake with tit-for-tat birthday medal Tony Halpin Moscow Vladimir Putin has honoured a notorious British traitor as one of Russia’s greatest spies. George Blake received the Order of Friendship during a gala celebration of his 85th birthday, in what appears to be the latest twist in deteriorating relations between Moscow and London. Mikhail Fradkov, director of the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service, read out telegrams from officials praising Blake’s contribution to Soviet espionage as a double agent in the British Secret Service, MI6. “It is hard to overrate the importance of the...