Russian spy chiefs hail Cold War legacy

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia's spy chiefs have said the case of U.S. businessman Edmond Pope has vindicated their operations and would act as a warning to other foreign agents.

But the heads of Russia's FSB domestic counter-intelligence service and the SVR foreign intelligence agency said they welcomed international co-operation in the battle against crime and drugs smuggling.

FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev and SVR chief Sergei Lebedev emerged to give rare interviews to be published on Wednesday to mark the December 20th "Day of Security Organs."

Patrushev said foreign intelligence agencies had "undertaken significant efforts to expand their intelligence positions in Russia," requiring more vigilance than ever.

RESOURCES   CNN Cold War special: Espionage     MESSAGE BOARD   Changes in Russia    Day of the Security Organs: • Russian annual holiday • Known in Soviet era as "Chekist Day" • Marks the founding of the ruthless Cheka Soviet secret police • The force later became the NKVD and then KGB

Spies from Western countries were co-ordinating their operations and acting from bases in former Communist states of Eastern Europe, where they are "always welcome guests," he said.

Earlier this month, the FSB secured the first conviction of a Western spy in Russia since the Cold War.

Pope, a retired U.S. Naval Intelligence officer and businessman, was sentenced to 20 years in jail on December 6 after being found guilty of obtaining secret torpedo technology.

He was freed after being pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Despite criticism of "spy mania," Patrushev said the Pope case vindicated the security police.

"Foreign 'businessman-spies' were always comfortable in murky water. For kopeks (Russian pennies) they could acquire know-how accumulated through the work of thousands of people. In the Pope case, Russia showed that this era is over," he said.

Lebedev, giving his first interview since his appointment in May, said Russia and the West faced the paradox of working with and against each other.

"In recent years, our partners in the West have been calmer at the idea of us carrying on intelligence work against each other and at the same time developing cooperation," he said.

He said both sides have fought international terrorism, drug trafficking and the spread of nuclear weapons technology together.

"We intend in the future to continue such relations of partnership," said Lebedev.

Patrushev said that the former Soviet secret police should take pride in the positive side of their bloody history.

But he said Russians had nothing to fear from the secret police now, despite the recent return of KGB alumni to the corridors of power under Putin.

Putin is a former KGB agent and Patrushev's predecessor at the FSB, who has placed some of his former comrades into top jobs.

Lebedev gave his vision of the perfect spy.

"Being an agent means being reliable, it means dedication, dedication to one's homeland, to one's comrades, it means being noble."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The Government of the Russian Federation
Federal Security Service (FSB)
Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)

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