Vasili Mitrokhin, the former KGB archivist who gave British authorities documents revealing aspects of Soviet espionage activities—including those of long-standing Latvian-British “granny spy” Melita Norwood—has died, according to British media reports.

The British government announced the death of Mitrokhin on Jan. 30, the daily newspaper The Guardian reported. Mitrokhin defected in 1992, turning to the British embassy in Latvia after his offer reportedly was rejected by American officials. Since then, he had been living under a false name in the United Kingdom the newspaper said.

Among revelations in his documents, which led to the 1999 publication of The Mitrokhin Archive, was that Norwood had quietly spied for the Soviets for 40 years while working as secretary for the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. She reportedly had passed on secrets regarding the West’s work on the atom bomb.

Norwood was born in 1912 as Melita Sirnis. Her father was a Latvian immigrant. An anarchist and communist, he died when his daughter was six years old.

When the Latvian-born soloist Gidon Kremer took the stage with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, he almost had to perform without his multi-million dollar violin.

Fortunately, two Amtrak train employees found the instrument Kremer had forgotten and returned it in time for his two concerts with the Maryland-based orchestra, according to the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post newspapers.

Kremer, who told reporters he was preoccupied with how to replace a violinst in his Kremerata Baltica who had taken ill, forgot the USD 3 million Guarneri del Gesu violin Jan. 28 on a New York-to-Baltimore train.

The violin is 300 years old.

The two Amtrak employees who found the violin were Kremer’s guests during the Jan. 30 concert. The violinist dedicated his encore to them.

An exhibit showcasing the work of Latvian diplomats in exile has been opened in Rīga by Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete.

The exhibit is titled “Latvijas valstiskuma sardzē: Latvijas diplomātiskā un konsulārā dienesta darbinieki okupācijas gados trimdā no 1940. gada 17. jūnija līdz 1991. gada 21. augustam” (“Guarding Latvian Statehood: Latvia’s Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Exile During the Occupation, From 17 June 1941 to 21 August 1991”).

In arranging the exhibit, the Foreign Ministry made use of private archives as well as its own and those held by the Latvian State Historical Archive, according to a press release from the ministry.

The exhibit is on display from Jan. 28 in the Foreign Ministry.

“The period since the renewal of independence,” the press release noted, “has shown that the work of diplomatic and consular staff in exile was essential in determining the nation’s course and its current international legal status.”