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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Vladimir Putin 'sang songs' with deported spies |
| 2010-07-25 |
| RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has revealed he met and even sang patriotic Soviet songs with the group of Russian spies deported from the US in the biggest espionage swap since the Cold War. Mr Putin, who served as a KGB agent in the ex-East Germany in the dying years of the Soviet Union, said the group included Anna Chapman, the Russian woman whose glamorous looks turned her into a tabloid star worldwide. "I met with them. We talked about life. We sang. It was not karaoke but live music," Mr Putin told Russian reporters on a visit to Ukraine, according to a transcript posted today on a Government website. "We sang 'From Where the Motherland Begins', a hugely popular 1960s song made famous in a USSR film about a Soviet spy working in Nazi Germany," he said. "I'm not joking, I am serious. And other songs with a similar content." The 10 spies, many of whom had been working for years undercover in the US as sleeper agents, returned to Russia earlier this month in a swap in which Moscow sent four Russian convicts to the West. The Kremlin agents had been arrested in an FBI swoop that initially threatened to derail a rapid improvement in Russia-US relations championed by President Dmitry Medvedev. Mr Putin hinted the agents' cover had been blown as a result of "treason" and that he knew the names of those responsible. "This was the result of treason and traitors always end badly. They finish up as drunks, addicts, on the street," Mr Putin said. Many former KGB spies have gone on the record blasting the shoddy and apparently antiquated spycraft of the 10, who were working for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. But Mr Putin indicated the deported spooks would not be left without employment. "They will work, I am sure, they will work in worthy places. I do not doubt that they will have an interesting, bright life." He did not give further details on his encounter with Ms Chapman, saying only that she had been present at the meeting. He did not say when or where the meeting had taken place. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 Obama probably sent our released spies a DVD of all his speeches. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-07-25 22:57 |
| #5 Well alrighty then, did VLAD andor DIMITRI play the electric Guitar + jam, or did they go acoustic??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-07-25 19:33 |
| #4 Ms Chapman, will have no trouble making a living. Some publisher has already offered her a good deal for a book. |
| Posted by: Bernardz 2010-07-25 11:46 |
| #3 "Back In The USSR"? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-07-25 09:43 |
| #2 This is what some call a 'teachable moment': Stirlitz |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2010-07-25 09:07 |
| #1 "They will work, I am sure, they will work in worthy places. I do not doubt that they will have an interesting, bright life." Singing campaign jingles for Barry's 2012 presidential run? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-07-25 08:17 |