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TV grab from Russian NTV channel shows a FSB video of a person, allegedly a British embassy staff member walking on a street, to collect intelligence information provided by Russian agents, in a park outside Moscow.
AFP/NTV/File
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The recent break up of a British intelligence-gathering operation in Moscow has revealed a unique technology used by intelligence officers to communicate with agents.
The technology involves an electronic “rock” that was placed in a secure location in a park in a Moscow suburb that allowed British intelligence to communicate with a recruited Russian agent.
The communications device was disguised as a rock and was capable of both sending and receiving secret communications. The device was considered secure because, unlike earlier spy communications, it did not communicate with satellites, which were detectable by Moscow’s federal communications intelligence service known as FAPSI.
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Moscow described the communications device disguised as a rock.
AFP/NTV
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The case is believed to have been compromised by a double agent who pretended to be working for British intelligence but was secretly loyal to Moscow.
Russian authorities found at least two of the rock communications devices.
Four British nationals, including several believed to be members of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI-6, were caught recently as part of the spy ring.
A Russian was arrested as part of the spy ring and is reported to be cooperating with Moscow’s counterintelligence services.
