Russia accused Britain yesterday of running a James Bond-style
spying operation using a receiver hidden in a fake rock to gather
secret information.
Russia's FSB state security service confirmed a state TV program
implicating four British Embassy employees in an operation that
entailed using a dummy rock equipped with a receiver to gather
secret information.
"The most important thing is that we caught them red-handed
while they were in contact with their agents (and established) that
they were financing some non-governmental organizations (NGOs),"
FSB chief spokesperson Sergei Ignatchenko said. "What the aim was
of this financing has to be carefully worked out," he added.
The link made to NGOs was in line with new official curbs on the
activities of non-governmental pressure groups such as human rights
groups and charities.
President Vladimir Putin has said the West is using NGOs as
political instruments meaning they are being used to foment unrest
of the sort that brought down the pro-Moscow establishment in
Ukraine in December 2004.
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group that was
linked to the British Embassy in the Rossiya TV program, said the
affair was meant to put pressure on rights activists.
"I consider that this is a campaign against NGOs in Russia that
is being organized from above and includes the television
channels," Alexeyeva said. "This is a complete déjà vu from
the Soviet Union."
In London, the Foreign Office said: "We are concerned and
surprised at these allegations. We reject any allegation of
improper conduct in our dealing with Russian NGOs.
"It is well known that the UK government has financially
supported projects implemented by Russian NGOs in the field of
human rights and civil society.
"All our assistance is given openly and aims to support the
development of a healthy civil society in Russia."
Four British diplomats named
Four British diplomats were named as having taken part in the
operation that the TV program, shown on Sunday night, said had
taken place in autumn last year. The British Embassy declined
comment on their present whereabouts.
The FSB said a Russian national who had been working for the
British had been arrested and sophisticated electronic equipment
had been seized.
The program said the embassy officials had downloaded classified
data from a transmitter in the rock using palm-top computers.
In footage that smacked of the Cold War era, the program showed
the imitation rock lying in snow by a roadside. A man, identified
as one of the four diplomats, walked up to it, picked it up with
some effort and made off with it.
Ties between the two countries have cooled in recent years after
differences over Iraq.
(China Daily January 24, 2006)
