Russian says he killed British spy in 1956

LONDON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- An elderly Russian says that as a young sailor he killed a legendary British spy when he caught him trying to place a mine on a Soviet ship.

Eduard Koltsov, in an interview for a BBC documentary, said he wanted to clear his conscience before his death, The Times of London reported. At the time, Koltsov said, he was a frogman.

Commander Lionel "Buster" Crabb is said to have been a model for James Bond, the legendary fictional spy created by author Ian Fleming. Crabb disappeared in 1956 and a headless body in a diving suit that washed up on the south coast of Britain more than a year later was identified as his.

Koltsov said Crabb was trying to destroy a ship docked in Portsmouth Harbor that had brought Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to Britain.

Lomond Handley, a surviving relative, disputes Koltsov's story. She says Crabb -- who served in the Navy during World War II and received the George Cross for removing limpet mines from British ships -- would never have been involved in trying to sink one in peacetime. She also suggests that in 1956 the British government was trying to improve relations with the Soviet Union.