Moscow names British 'spies' in NGO row

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

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.

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