LONDON — Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet KGB officer who helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to Britain, has died. He was 86.

Gordievsky died March 4 in England, where he had lived since defecting in 1985. Police said Saturday that they are not treating his death as suspicious.

Historians consider Gordievsky one of the era’s most important spies. In the 1980s, his intelligence helped avoid a dangerous escalation of nuclear tensions between the USSR and the West.

In 1983 he warned the U.K. and U.S. the Soviets leadership was so worried about a nuclear attack it considered a first strike{ai:summary}<p>Oleg Gordievsky, a former KGB officer who significantly influenced the Cold War by sharing secrets with Britain, has died at 86. He passed away in England, where he lived after defecting in 1985. His intelligence work in the 1980s is credited with easing nuclear tensions. #history</p>

Oleg Gordievsky, Britain’s most valuable Cold War spy inside the KGB, dies at 86

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