Russia accuses British diplomat of spying

Russia accuses British diplomat of spying

news.bbc.co.uk

Russian security officials have accused a British diplomat based in Moscow of spying, Russian news agencies report.

They said the official, named as Christopher Bower, was a senior British intelligence officer.

The British embassy in Moscow has so far refused to make any comments on the Russian reports.

The allegation follows a recent BBC report that the Russian state had been involved in the murder of its former agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

Mr Bower worked as a reporter for the BBC before joining the UK Foreign Office in the 1990s.

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And so begins the next round of tit-for-tat accusations and expulsions in this episode.

For those who aren't aware, MI5 officials recently said that there was strong evidence to suggest that the Russian state was behind the murder of Alexander Litvinenko by radiation poisoning in London in 2006 (though it wasn't necessarily ordered by the Kremlin... it's possible that a section of the FSB took it upon themselves to do it and now the Kremlin is clearing up the mess). Now it seems the Russians have decided to make a counter-accusation. Coupled with the apparently frosty meeting between Gordon Brown and President Medvedev (and the row over the US missile shield flaring up again), it seems the Russian Bear is angry.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 10/7/08 by Ste2652]