Russian TV Shows Alleged British Spies, UK Foreign Office Concerned

[Felix the Cat]

Russian TV Shows Alleged British Spies, UK Foreign Office Concerned (http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/01/23/britainspies.shtml)

Russian state television has broadcast video footage of what it claims are British diplomats spying in Moscow, BBC reported Sunday.

In the program, people claiming to be Russian intelligence officers say British agents planted a transmitter in an imitation rock on a Moscow street.

The officers say British embassy officials then walked past downloading data from the “rock’s” transmitter.

The UK Foreign Office said it was “concerned and surprised” at the claims and denied any improper conduct.

However, Russia’s intelligence services later on Monday accused British embassy officials of spying in Moscow.

“Yes. I can confirm that everything that was shown was true and based on our information,” a spokesman for FSB state security service told Reuters.

“The diplomats were shown to be involved in activities that were incompatible with their diplomatic status,” he said, using diplomatic jargon to refer to spying.

The program said four officials from the British embassy and one Russian citizen, allegedly recruited by the British secret service, downloading classified data from the rock’s transmitter onto palm-top computers.

According to the program, 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 program also alleged that one of the embassy officials involved had been authorizing regular payments to Russian non-governmental organizations.

The UK Foreign Office statement said: “We are concerned and surprised at these allegations. We reject any allegation of improper conduct in our dealing with Russian NGOs.”

It said it was well known that the British 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.

[Ace Rimmer]

Russia's state security service, the FSB, has accused British diplomats of spying in Moscow.

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.

'No comment'

Prime Minister Tony Blair has refused to comment on the Russian claims.

During his monthly news conference on Monday he appeared to try to laugh them off, saying: "Look I only saw myself on Teletext this morning, the business about Russia.

"I'm afraid you're going to get the old stock-in-trade, of never commenting on security matters. Except when we want to, obviously."

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.

The UK four were named in the programme as Christopher Pirt, Marc Doe, Paul Crompton and Andrew Fleming.

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.

'New technology'

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".

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."

BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4638136.stm)

[The Retard]

Russians: British Spied Using Fake Rock (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060123/ap_on_re_eu/russia_britain_espionage)

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2083/rock1yr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

By HENRY MEYER, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 23, 2:55 PM ET

MOSCOW - Russia's main intelligence agency on Monday accused four British diplomats of spying — using electronic equipment hidden inside a fake rock in a park — as well as funneling funds to non-governmental organizations.

The announcement came a day after state television channel Rossiya broadcast footage purportedly showing four British Embassy staff using electronic equipment concealed in the rock in Moscow to receive intelligence from Russian agents.

A prominent rights activist warned the accusations could be used as a pretext to crack down on Western-funded groups that are critical of the Kremlin.

Sergei Ignatchenko, a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said the situation would be resolved "at a political level," the RIA-Novosti news agency reported, an apparent indication that the Russian government could expel the diplomats.

The intelligence agency also said a Russian citizen who allegedly had contacts with British agents had been detained and confessed to espionage, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.

Officials at the British Embassy in Moscow and Foreign Office in London declined to comment on the espionage accusations. Prime Minister
Tony Blair said at a news conference that he had only heard about the allegations in media reports and had no further comment.

In addition to a post-Cold War chill in Russian-British relations, the announcement reflected a toughening Russian attitude toward NGOs. Earlier this year, President
Vladimir Putin signed a law severely restricting NGOs' financing and activities.

Moscow has been highly suspicious of groups promoting human rights and democracy since opposition leaders came to power in recent uprisings in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Russian officials have accused Western nations of encouraging regime change in the regions by financing NGOs.

Rossiya said the diplomats had downloaded information onto handheld computers from the electronic gadget hidden in the rock, a process that worked at a distance of up to 65 feet and took only one or two seconds.

Among the diplomats named in the television broadcast were Marc Doe and Paul Crompton. Both are listed in British Embassy directories provided to the media as working in the embassy's political section.

Interfax identified the two others as Andrew Fleming and Christopher Pirt, but they weren't in the directories.

Rossiya also showed copies of documents allegedly showing that Britain had transferred money to non-governmental organizations working in Russia, including one that purportedly authorized a transfer of $41,000 in October 2004 to the Moscow Helsinki Group, a leading rights group that has been a persistent critic of Putin.

Interfax also reported that 12 NGOs had received funds under Doe's signature.

"This is the first time we literally caught them red-handed in the process of contacting their agents here and received evidence that they finance a number of non-governmental organizations," the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Ignatchenko as saying.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a Soviet-era dissident, described the accusations as part of a smear campaign against NGOs critical of the Kremlin.

"They are preparing public opinion for a government move to close us down, which they can now do under the new law," Alexeyeva told The Associated Press. "This will not stop our activities, though. I managed to keep on working in Soviet times."

The Peace Corps pulled out of Russia in 2003 amid spying allegations.

In a statement released following the Sunday broadcast, Britain's Foreign Office rejected allegations of improper dealings with Russian NGOs, saying London gave assistance openly to support the development of healthy civil society in Russia.

But Gennady Gudkov, a retired security service officer and a member of the security committee of the lower house of parliament, warned that foreign states were using non-profit groups "for their own goals."

"I regret that British special services have discredited the very idea of non-governmental organizations," he told AP.

In 1996, Russia and Britain engaged in a spying dispute launched by Moscow, each expelling four diplomats.

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs, predicted the spy scandal would increase tensions between Moscow and the West as Russia chairs the Group of Eight this year.

"This will provoke a very negative commentary in the West. It will only worsen the picture since Russia already started its G8 presidency on a very inauspicious note," Lukyanov told AP, alluding to its cutoff of gas to Ukraine over the New Year holiday, which resulted in brief shortages for other European countries as well.