Spy left out in the cold to start protest

LONDON - Victor Makarov once spied for Britain from the heart of the KGB, spending five years in a labour camp after he was caught. After MI6 helped him defect, he hoped for a new and prosperous start in the nation for which he had risked his life.

But the reality has been very different - living on a disability allowance and a few official handouts, he has become the spy who has been left out in the cold, embittered and poverty-stricken.

Now Makarov, 49, wants to claim what he believes is his due. He says he will begin an indefinite hunger strike, camped on the pavement in Whitehall, in support of his claim for a pension. Having been in a Soviet labour camp, he says the hunger will be no hardship.

A graduate of the KGB's academy the same year as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Makarov began spying for Britain because of unhappiness about his country's repressive regime and corresponding interest in the West. But he was caught, shipped to the Arctic, and eventually "smuggled" by his British spy masters to London.

Makarov claims he was promised sufficient financial help to enable a decent standard of living. Instead, he was handed over to MI5, who arranged for him to get a British passport, found him a rented bedsit, gave him £12,000 ($32,000) and left him to fend for himself.

Makarov's only income comes from benefits and a disability allowance awarded because of depression. He has received some small payments since 1992 and, three years ago, when he began legal action against the Home Office for breach of its duty of care, received £65,000, which helped him buy a small house in Northumberland.

He is now seeking a defector's pension, of the type awarded to other spies, such as Mikhail Butkov, who was reported as receiving an initial payment of £100,000 and a £14,000 annual pension.

"I feel I have been betrayed by the country for whom I risked my life," Makarov said

So how long does he intend to remain on the pavement in Whitehall? "As long as necessary."

- INDEPENDENT