From the pages of the South China Morning Post this week in 1985
Britain announced it was expelling 25 Soviet diplomats and officials from London for spying, acting on information from a senior KGB officer who defected to Britain.
Oleg Gordievski, counsellor of the Soviet embassy in London from June 1982 and the recent head of the KGB residency in London, was 'in a position to know full details of Soviet intelligence activities and personnel' in Britain.
His request for political asylum was granted. Six of the 25 Soviets were diplomats. They were given three weeks to leave Britain.
It was the largest mass expulsion since 1971, when 105 Soviet diplomats and businessmen were ordered out.
Gordievski told British agents he defected because he wished to become a citizen of a democratic country and live in a free society, the Foreign Office said in a statement. It did not make clear when he defected, but did say he was 46 and joined the KGB in 1962.
