BRITISH SPY RING SMASHED, SAY RUSSIANS

UK Mirror
Jan. 23, 2006

RUSSIA claims to have smashed a British spy ring and is threatening to kick four British diplomats out of the country.

Security chiefs in Moscow claim the four embassy officials used a fake rock, deposited on a city street, to store electronic eavesdropping equipment used to download information to and from palmtop computers.

The allegations follow the broadcast of a film on Russian state television claiming that British agents had been "caught red-handed" downloading information onto hand-held computers from a transmitter hidden inside the fake rock.

The programme also claimed unauthorised payments were being made to organisations critical of President Vladimir Putin's regime.

A spokesman for Russia's FSB security service claimed: "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 organisations."

Among the diplomats named in the television broadcast were Marc Doe and Paul Crompton, both of the embassy's political section. The Interfax news agency identified the others as Andrew Fleming and Christopher Pirt.

Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to comment on the crisis. But 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."

The spokesman said that Britain gives around £500,000 a year to NGO projects in Russia covering areas such as human rights, the environment, governance and democracy. Funding has gone to specific projects supporting freedom of expression, media freedom, minority rights, prison reform and anti-torture initiatives.