Cold War

[Amusing Scrotum]

From BBC News....


Originally posted by UK diplomats in Moscow spying row
Russia's state security service, the FSB, has accused British diplomats of spying in Moscow.

It backed claims made in a Russian TV report which showed footage of what it said was British agents retrieving data from a fake rock planted on a street.

The programme also said a UK diplomat made regular payments to Russian non-governmental organisations.

The UK Foreign Office said it was "concerned and surprised", and denied any improper conduct with Russian NGOs.

Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed FSB spokesman as saying that "everything that was shown [in the programme] was true and based on our information".

The programme said four officials from the UK embassy and one Russian citizen, allegedly recruited by the British secret service, downloaded classified data from a transmitter in the rock onto palm-top computers.

According to the programme, the Russian citizen was later arrested.

Hidden camera footage appears to show individuals walking up to the rock.

One man is caught on camera carrying it away.

The programme contained a number of interviews with people claiming to be Russian intelligence officers, who made the allegations.

An unnamed FSB spokesman told AFP news agency one of the accused diplomats was a 30-year-old archivist.

A FSB officer told Rossiya television the hi-tech stone was "absolutely new spy technology".

Claim denied

The UK embassy in Moscow has refused to comment, but the UK Foreign Office in London issued a statement.

"We are concerned and surprised at these allegations. We reject any allegation of improper conduct in our dealing with Russian NGOs," it said.

The Foreign Office said it was well known that the UK government had given financial support to 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," the statement said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin drew widespread criticism earlier this month when he signed a law giving authorities increased powers to monitor the activities and finances of NGOs.

Critics said the measure was an attack on human rights and democracy.

Michael Evans, defence editor of the UK Times newspaper, told the BBC that Russia is still regarded as a centre of espionage.

"People will be a little bit surprised at the bizarre nature of this episode. I've no idea whether it's true, but clearly there is a lot of intelligence gathering that goes on."

Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4638136.stm).

[James]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1692867,00.html



Moscow names British 'spies' in NGO row

· TV alleges transmitter was hidden in stone block
· Embassy staff accused of funding Russian groups

Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Monday January 23, 2006
The Guardian


The Russian security service, the FSB, last night named as spies four employees of the British embassy in Moscow, showing them on state television allegedly collecting intelligence using hi-tech gadgets and funding non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
It marks the Putin administration's most bold attempt to expose western intelligence work in Russia. The FSB caught the unit late last year, a documentary on state-run Rossiya TV reported. An FSB spokesman confirmed to the Guardian that his agency had accused the four men of being spies. "They have not been arrested. How could we? They are all diplomats." He declined to say what information they had tried to acquire. "They used hi-tech, new gadgets to communicate with [Russian] agents, with citizens of another country who gather intelligence."

According to a report of the programme from the state RIA Novosti agency, two men, aged 30 and 32, were named as spies. A third diplomat named as a spy was an aide to MI6's Moscow desk officer, the only MI6 agent officially declared to the FSB, and a fourth had a role in funding Foreign Office projects.
The programme focused upon an alleged secret transmitter hidden in a square in central Moscow. The FSB officer said: "At first we thought it was a classic drop point - a container camouflaged with a stone. Then ... it became clear there was an electronic device inside it." They said the stone contained a battery and a device to transmit and receive. It had been fastened into the walls using wooden screws and sealed to make it watertight.

The programme described how Russian agents for MI6 and the British diplomats communicated by passing by the stone with a PDA handheld computer which would send or receive data from the device inside at up to 20 metres.

The FSB officer said the device did not work properly, causing the four diplomats to visit the square regularly in the autumn. One diplomat was filmed dressed "as a student", a rucksack on his back. A Russian had been caught using the stone and later admitted to spying. One diplomat, 27, educated at a university in the north of England, was named as the recruiter for MI6 agents. The programme said his work put him in contact with many NGOs. The FSB officer showed paperwork he claimed proved this diplomat had funded several Russian NGOs. One paper, apparently dated last week, gave a media organisation £5,719 to produce a newspaper.

The focus comes just after the Kremlin rushed into law a bill that NGOs say will hamper their work. The Kremlin says NGOs are a front for spying; last year the FSB accused the British medical relief charity Merlin of espionage, a claim it firmly denies.

The British embassy in Moscow declined to comment. In London, the Foreign Office said: "We are surprised at these allegations. We reject any allegation of improper conduct in our dealings 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." Allegations about British intelligence, notably MI6, are invariably met with a response that the government never comments on intelligence matters.

Backstory

Vladimir Putin's administration has in recent years cracked down on potential fronts for espionage, prompting accusations of renewed cold war-esque spy fever from the security services, the FSB. Increased counter-intelligence, though in keeping with efforts to reinforce state control, has boosted accusations of a crackdown on dissent. FSB director Nikolai Patrushev each year reveals the number of foreign spies unearthed, usually about 100. One of the four alleged British spies named had official links to NGOs, and their exposure now will prompt accusations that the timing was to justify a law signed on January 10.

[drain.you]

This may be a dumb question but why would our (the british) government want to spy on Russia? :S

[Severian]

^^^....because it's there?

For starters. There are ongoing conflicts of interest as well. The US, UK etc are attempting to displace Russian influence in its neighbors, from Ukraine to Central Asia.

[Scars]

Plus within Europe Russia is important when it comes to energy resources- they have much of Europes oil, natural gas and coal (if I remember correctly) and control many of the pipelines.

[Janus]

The MI5 have warned about the increased activities of Russian intelligence agents. They have stated that the Russian Federation Intelligence Services pose a "Substantial" threat to the UK. Supposedly, Moscow wants its SVR agents to produce an overview of Britain's military capabilities and glean intelligence on political matters.

One noted incident occured in 2001 when a man was arrested for stealing top secret documents on NATO projects. He was caught after trying to sell these materials to the Russians. A year later, a British Aerospace worker was caught trying to sell secrets to the Russians.

So far, British intelligence has increased efforts to offset Russian spying operations by placing many Russian suspected spies under surveillance.

[James]

There is much talk of NGOs and possible financial/intelligence aid in an attempt to help along an "orange revolution" as seen in Ukraine.

[bolshevik butcher]

There is still a lot of suspicion between the Russians and the west. Especially in recnety years, with abtlles for sphere of influence extending into Georgia and now Ukraine.

Putin is becoming increasingly despotic, and as a result the markets 'freedom' is being compormised. This is alarming America.

[James]

Yeah i think you are onto something there.

Did you also see that georgia accused russia yesterday, or the day before i think, of blowing up some oil pipelines that feed georgia?

I also read somewhere that there is some legislation that putin wants to get passed: so could be degree of making a crisis, to get crisis powers. But i can't really remember what the legislation was.... sothis is just guess work.

[bolshevik butcher]

Yes, Georgia is probably the best example, Russia is still by far the msot pwoerful country in the region, and probably the 3rd msot int he world, behind America and China.

[ComradeOm]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23 2006, 07:58 PM
This may be a dumb question but why would our (the british) government want to spy on Russia? :S
People are worried about Putin and his attempts to hold Russia together. They perceive him to be more authoritarian, especially so after following the liberal regime that followed the demise of the USSR. The West loved the that drunk Yeltsin despite the billions he and his cronies swindled.