MOSCOW — Russian officials Monday accused four British diplomats of spying in an incident reminiscent of a Cold War-era James Bond movie, saying the alleged agents used short-range communications equipment hidden in fake rocks to exchange information with Russian sources.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet KGB, charged that one diplomat, Second Secretary Marc Doe of the British Embassy's political section, also channeled money from his government to prominent Russian human rights groups.
The allegations come after strong international criticism of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin this month for signing a law that imposes strict conditions on nongovernmental organizations in Russia and limits their foreign funding. The measure was widely seen as an attempt to tighten the Kremlin's control over society and limit the influence of critics in the wake of uprisings in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan in recent years.
FSB spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko told the RIA Novosti news agency that Russian intelligence had confiscated a device installed in a fake rock and that British intelligence had retrieved a similar device spotted by the Russians. A Russian accused of having contacts with the alleged British agents was detained, and confessed to espionage, Ignatchenko said.
The charges were made a day after state-run RTR television aired video it said showed British agents repeatedly approaching a fake stone and eventually carrying it away. The television program alleged that the diplomats and their Russian agents used hand-held computers to upload and download information to one another via the equipment hidden in the fake stones.
Ignatchenko said the hidden communications devices could be accessed from a distance of up to 80 feet and that transferring information required only a second or two.
The British Foreign Office said it was "concerned and surprised at these allegations." The statement focused on defending British engagement with Russian nongovernmental organizations.
"We reject any allegation of improper conduct in our dealings with Russian NGOs," the ministry said. "It is well known that the U.K. government has financially supported projects implemented by Russian NGOs in the field of human rights and civil society. All our assistance is given openly and aims to support the development of a healthy civil society in Russia."
