Great group you have. I will save all I can and try
to make sense of it. I'm not in your field, but in my
work, writing, and research it is great to be aware of
the implications of happenings your field.
Thanks,
Mike
--- "James M. Atkinson" <jm..._at_tscm.com> wrote:
>
>
> [Now that that caught the rock, they should start
> looking for the
> tree stump, and then the rusty can. -jma]
>
>
>
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/23/uk.russia.row/index.html
>
> Russia: British used 'rock' to spy
>
> MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia's internal security
> service has
> accused four British Embassy employees of conducting
> a high-tech
> spying operation that included using an "advanced
> electronic spy
> gadget" in a fake rock, news agencies reported.
>
> "An electronic cache from the British intelligence
> service was seized
> by counterintelligence," Interfax quoted Federal
> Security Service
> (FSB) chief spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko as saying
> Monday.
>
> Interfax reported that the FSB had found the "spy
> gadget" installed
> inside the fake rock and that the British agents
> used it to reach
> their Russian contacts.
>
> The FSB found a second such gadget and said the
> British had retrieved
> another, the Russian news agency reported. Interfax
> said a Russian
> citizen had been detained and had confessed to
> espionage.
>
> Ignatchenko said the situation involving the Britons
> would be
> "resolved at a political level," according to the
> Russian news agency.
>
> "It is most important that we caught them having
> contact with agents
> and funding a number of non-profit organizations
> (NGOs)," Ignatchenko
> said. "We are investigating the goals of this
> funding."
>
> Monday's comments come a day after Russian state-run
> television aired
> a program allegedly showing British diplomats
> engaged in undercover
> activities in Moscow.
>
> Officials at the British Foreign Office in London
> said earlier that
> they were "concerned and surprised" at the
> allegations in the TV
> program -- which also alleged that a British
> official authorized
> regular payments to Russian NGOs.
>
> The Foreign Office said British officials "reject
> any allegation of
> improper conduct in our dealing with Russian NGOs."
>
> British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to comment
> on the matter at
> his monthly news conference in London on Monday.
>
> Russia-based human rights bodies said the incident
> may be targeting
> them, following Russia's new curbs on the actions of
> NGO pressure
> groups, Reuters reported.
>
> Hidden camera footage
>
> According to the program broadcast by Rossiya
> television, Russian
> intelligence officers said they had uncovered an
> operation in which
> British agents allegedly downloaded data to and from
> a transmitter
> embedded in a fake rock.
>
> The program said four British officials and at least
> one Russian
> informant downloaded classified data to and from the
> transmitter onto
> handheld computers. One Russian citizen, allegedly
> recruited by
> British agents, was later arrested, the program
> reported.
>
> Hidden camera footage appeared to show individuals
> walking up to the
> rock by the side of a Moscow street, according to
> media reports. One
> man was seen on camera carrying the rock away. The
> rock appears to be
> about the size of a thick book.
>
> The program also showed a document allegedly
> authorizing a transfer
> of $41,000 to the Moscow Helsinki Group, a leading
> Russian human
> rights group which has been a persistent critic of
> President Vladimir
> Putin, The Associated Press reported.
>
> An FSB spokesman told Reuters that "everything that
> was shown (in the
> TV program) was true and based on our information."
>
> "The diplomats were shown to be involved in
> activities that were
> incompatible with their diplomatic status," the
> spokesman said.
>
> Officials at the British Embassy in Moscow declined
> to comment, AP said.
>
> A statement from the British Foreign Office in
> London 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."
>
> Last year, the head of the FSB accused U.S. and
> other foreign
> intelligence services of using NGOs to spy on Russia
> and foment
> political upheaval in ex-Soviet republics, AP
> reported.
>
> Under legislation signed into law earlier this month
> by Putin, NGOs
> face tighter regulations on their financing and
> activities.
>
> Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki
> Group, said the
> incident was meant to put pressure on rights
> activists.
>
> "I consider that this is a campaign against
> non-governmental
> organizations in Russia which is being organized
> from above and
> includes the television channels," Alexeyeva told
> Reuters.
>
> "This is a complete 'deja vu' from the Soviet
> Union."
>
> 'Nothing is unlikely'
>
> In Britain, experts on Russian affairs also
> suggested the TV report
> was deliberately timed to coincide with the
> clampdown on NGO
> activities in Russia.
>
> Alex Standish, editor of Jane's Intelligence Review,
> said the
> allegations should be treated with caution but that
> they could be accurate.
>
> "In this business nothing is unlikely," he told the
> UK's Press
> Association. "Don't dismiss anything out of hand
> because far more
> bizarre things have happened than a recording rock.
>
> "It could be a KGB staged story to put pressure on
> the British, or it
> could be completely true."
>
> Richard Sakwa, professor of Russian and European
> politics at the
> University of Kent, said the allegations were
> "incredible."
>
> "There is no doubt about it, that the British, and
> Americans and
> others have been active in the spying field, but
> this
=== message truncated ===
Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:22 CST