Russia accused Britain on Monday of running a spying operation in Moscow using a receiver hidden in a fake rock to gather secret information. Russia-based human rights bodies said the spy scandal may in fact be targetting them, following Russia’s new curbs on the actions of non-governmental organisation pressure groups.
Russia’s FSB state security service confirmed a state TV programme implicating four British embassy employees in James Bond-style spying operation that entailed using a dummy rock equipped with a receiver to gather secret information.
“The most important thing is that we caught them red-handed while they were in contact with their agents that they were financing some non-governmental organisations,” the FSB chief spokesman said.
President Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB spy, has said that the West is using the NGOs as political instruments.
