PrintDecember 12, 2010
Russia's best spy in 30 years.
Last week Liberal-Democrat Member of Parliament Mike Hancock’s research assistant Katia Katuliveter was arrested on charges that she was a Russian spy. Zatuliveter and Hancock maintained that the allegations were entirely false, Hancock said ‘She genuinely believes, and I back her 100 per cent, that she has nothing to hide and that she has done nothing wrong.” Even as British officials were preparing to deport the 25 year-old Russian, she maintained her innocence and vowed to fight the deportation order.
Now, the UK Daily Mail reports that:
Oleg Gordievsky - a double agent for Mi6 in the Seventies and Eighties - said Russian born Ekaterina Zatuliveter ‘caused more damage than all other KGB agents put together.’
‘She was the strongest and most useful KGB agent for 30 years,’ he said.
The former double agent maintains that Zatuliveter (as an undercover SVR agent) used her position and relationship with Hancock to gather ‘information about British naval bases around the world.’
‘She asked important military questions, passed them to the MP, who them pushed them up the chain. Once answers arrived, she read them, re-wrote them, copies, copied and passed copies to KGB agents.’
Gordievsky’s assertions were made during an interview with Russia’s Radio Svoboda, the Cold War spy has maintained close relations with the international intelligence community since his defection. He said that Zatuliveter had been recruited while studying at St. Petersburg University, like many other top Russian intelligence and security personnel including former KGB chief and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Gordievsky warned that Miss Zatuliveter represented a new style of threat to the West from young Russians recruited to help their secret services out of a sense of patriotism, and who now enjoy freedom to travel abroad.He added: ‘Zatuliveter’s case is a typical example of how the active, clever, well-educated agent gathers information. She is a huge loss to Russian intelligence.’
In light of the well respected Gordievsky’s assertions, Zatuliveter’s former boss and chief defender, 64 year-old MP Mike Hancock is now denying claims of an intimate relationship with the young Russian spy. The married father of two refused comment after The Daily Mail sent him a photograph showing the MP at a bar with his 25 year-old research assistant. Hancock did admit that Zatuliveter had access to his official email.
Mr. Hancock has also been accused of helping another blonde Russian, Ekaterina Paderina, stay in Britain after she ran into visa problems in the Nineties.Mr. Hancock was chairman of the all-party Russia Group until he was ousted by Labour’s Chris Bryant because it was felt he was too lenient towards Moscow.In October, Mr. Hancock was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault and released on bail until next month.
Of course we all know that the Cold War is over and the Russians are now our trustworthy friends, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. It was only two months ago that the RAF scrambled fighters to escort Russian Tupolev Tu95 bombers from NATO airspace on two separate occasions in one week.
Meanwhile Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, seemingly oblivious of Russian security breaches and encroachments continue to push the New START treaty on the U.S. Senate as Russian Prime Minister Putin maintains steady pressure amid the WikiLeaks revelations and his treats to pursue an aggressive arms race with America and our Western allies.
December 12, 2010
