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Spying 'still at Cold War levels'
Via Lucianne:
Ahh, they can handle it now, they're big boys as they keep telling US.
ABOUT 130 Russian spies are active in Germany, almost as many as during the Cold War, according to the German news magazine Focus. German political parties, companies, the armed forces and scientific research establishments were targetted by post-communist Russian espionage, said the report, quoting German authorities. The article, released in advance of Monday's edition, quoted an official of the German Federal Criminal Investigation Agency (BKA) as saying the targets were spied on "in an extremely aggressive way". It also quoted an unnamed senior official of Germany's domestic counter-intelligence service as saying Russian intelligence had been strongly reinforced, so that almost as many operatives were now undercover on German territory as there were Soviet KGB agents during the Cold War. Focus reported a Russian military intelligence officer had been caught trying to recruit a German soldier in order to get at confidential military documents .
nope, no new tech for you.
The officer had been expelled following a German protest note to the Russian embassy in Berlin, it said. The magazine also reported Russian agents had been observed in Hamburg trying to recruit informers in the police force. The German federal attorney's department in Karlsruhe is currently examining statements by Russian former agents who have changed sides. Investigators do not rule out that the ex-agents are being co-operative in the hope of obtaining residence permits in Germany. Russian-German relations are generally perceived as cordialTalks between German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month were deemed to have strengthened friendly links..
"How are you today, Gerhard?"
"Fine, thanks for asking, Vlad. And you?"
"Our relationship has reached a breadth and depth like never before in our history," Mr Schroeder said during the talks in northern Germany.
So, what do you think of W?)
The two leaders spoke in German, a language Mr Putin learned as a KGB agent based in Dresden in former East Germany during the Cold War.
Posted by: Anonymous2u 2005-01-30
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=55105