BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/03/2008

Belarus KGB keeps silence on TV report on spy network under US Embassy's cover

AIA reported yesterday about a Belarussian state television report that accused the US embassy in Minsk of setting up a spy ring in the ex-Soviet republic. According to the TV report, one of the American diplomats is a staff member of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The espionage scandal has appeared against a background of recently perturbed Belarus-US relations.

The Committee on State Security (KGB) of Belarus doesn't confirm the fact of uncovering an espionage network acting under the cover of US embassy in Minsk. - "I have no information concerning the fact, - Valery Nadtochayev, head of the KGB department for public relations and information, told news agency ITAR-TASS today.

The First National TV channel of Belarus showed a report last night on the spy network saying it operated under the shelter of struggle against terrorism. It was told that the recruited Belarus citizens had to gather and transfer information that was of interest to the US special services for use of the FBI doing a mischief to their country, daily Telegraf notes. The report did not identify sources and did not say what kind of information the alleged spies were supposed to be collecting. It showed footage of a man, seemingly under questioning, saying that his duties included "reveling potential terrorists and spotting enemy surveillance," International Herald Tribune marks.

According to the TV report, there were about ten people in the group of detection and clearance created by an embassy's unit, according to the paper. The TV report also showed two women, their heads seen from behind, who said they had met with FBI representatives who showed them their badges and told them not to tell anybody about the meeting.

The arrest occurred on March 13 at the rented apartment that appeared to be headquarters of the spy network, located about 500 meters of the US embassy in Minsk, Prensa Latina reports. Security sources told the press that the meetings with the US diplomats took place in that old residence, which the neighbours thought it was a drugs hideout and called the police. The report adds that cameras, binoculars, and cell phones were seized in the operation.

The detainees reportedly said that US embassy attache Kart Finli was involved as direct coordinator of the group. The accused was found in the apartment when the police surprisingly showed up, news agency says.

AP cites independent analyst Yaroslav Romanchuk who called the state TV report, clunky Soviet-style propaganda. "In accordance with the old Soviet tradition, the Belarusian KGB finds US, Polish and Latvian spies when (the government's) relations with these countries are taking a sharp turn for the worse," Romanchuk said, referring to Belarus' State Security Committee.

Moscow-based online paper Polit.ru says the plot reminds the Russian case with the British in 2006 when the Rossiya television channel showed Arkady Mamontov's 'documentary' The Spies. It said that four spies appeared in the British embassy in Moscow who contacted certain Russian citizen recruited by them by means of a stone laying in one of the Moscow squares, in fact, the stone was said to be a smart electronic device. The espionage story ended with nothing - however, Russian non-governmental organizations were accused of reception of money from British special services. The "espionage" scandal was launched only to justify the new law putting NGOs under state control, Polit.ru concludes.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1517

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