Spies | Robert Hanssen, a double agent who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia, has died

Former FBI agent of the United States federal police and worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union and Russia for decades Robert Hanssen has died at the age of 79, says a US news website CBS. Hanssen died in prison in Colorado.

Hanssen started as a double agent in 1979, but quit a few years later after being pressured by his wife. Hanssen returned as a double agent in 1985 and managed to receive a total of approximately $1.4 million in cash and diamonds as a reward.

During the years 1979–2001, Hanssen sold to the Soviet Union and Russia a total of thousands of pages of secret materials on, for example, the United States’ preparation for nuclear war and the FBI’s counter-espionage.

Hanssen was arrested in 2001 and his trial was the subject of great media attention at the time. According to the life indictment, his actions caused the deaths of at least two US double agents. Hanssen avoided the death penalty by confessing to his crime and was sentenced to life in prison in 2002.