Britain Denies Russia's Spy Claims

Xinhua
Jan. 23, 2006

Britain's Foreign Office on Monday denied its four staff were engaged in any "improper conduct" after Russia's state TV broadcast footage showing them collecting intelligence by high-tech gadgets.

A spokesman for British Foreign Office said it was "surprised" by Russia's allegations of a spying operation.

"We are concerned and surprised at these allegations. We reject any allegation of improper conduct in our dealing with Russian NGOs (Non-Governmental organizations)," he said.

"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," he said.

"All our assistance is given openly and aims to support the development of a healthy civil society in Russia," he added.

Russia's state television broadcast a video footage Sunday night showing four British embassy officials liaising with a fake rock in which a transmitter was concealed, in a Moscow park. And then they walked past downloading data from the "rock's" transmitter.

According to the program, Britain was accused of funding NGOs in Russia with the intention of causing unrest, and four officials from the British embassy and one Russian citizen, allegedly recruited by the British secret service, downloaded classified data from the rock's transmitter onto palm-top computers.

On Monday, The Guardian quoted a spokesman of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) as saying that the agency had accused the four of being spies.

"They have not been arrested. How could we? They are all diplomats," the spokesman said.

The FSB spokesman did not say what information the four tried to acquire.

It is reported that the FSB could not apprehend these four officials due to diplomatic immunity but they could face expulsion from Russia.