Espionage only about ' blackmail and persecution': Former Russian spy

Boris Karpichkov, a Russian spy who sought refuge in the United Kingdom after defecting to Britain 16 years ago, says that when he entered the world of espionage, he knew that it was only about "blackmail and persecution."

However, the former spy says that he has never killed anyone although he was asked to do so twice and was told by his seniors that if his refusal to kill someone exposes the network, then he will face execution.

Karpichkov was a major in the KGB and its post-Soviet successor, the FSB, before defecting to Britain and has been living in shadows since then, reported The Mirror.

Raised in the then-Soviet Baltic state of Latvia, he was conditioned to be "a blockheaded communist" and was recruited to the KGB as a 23-years-old engineer.

He served in the Third Department, which specialised in counter-espionage and had a pen that fired bullets and a secret compartment for poison.

He claimed that he spied on Latvia for Russia and on Russia for Latvia, the Central Investigative Agency and France. However, he fled to Britain using forged travel documents after the FSB rumbled him in 1998.

He conceded that the tricks of his trade involved killing a man bare-handed and leaving secret messages for people that no one could ever spot.

Karpichkov now earns his living by doing occasional security work and hopes that MI5 would pay for a cosy life in exchange for two cases filled with confidential documents that he has brought along with him.