From Overseas Press

Arrests show US-Russia spies' covert war lives on

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-30 10:32

HEROES AND CURSES

According to the papers, a decoded Russian message defined the group's goal as becoming "sufficiently Americanized such that they can gather information about the United States for Russia, and can successfully recruit sources who are in, or are able to infiltrate, United States policy-making circles."

U.S. authorities accuse the group of operating under orders of Russia's SVR agency as "illegals" -- an intelligence term used for agents living under false identities, as opposed to officers who use diplomatic cover or other legitimate cover.

Gordievsky said Russia had "dozens and dozens of unofficial" spies working in the United States.

Over the years, he said, Moscow had come to believe these were "immune" to detection, and had sent an increasing flow of agents not only to United States but also to other Western powers like France, Germany and Britain.

"This is a case of the United States simply telling Russia, 'For 20 years we have tolerated your activites in our country and we are now saying we are watching you and we will act if you do not stop'," he said.

Some attention is likely to focus on the sources approached by the agents, said Ayers.

Many appeared to be former government officials, and it was not yet clear whether these individuals had been told by the FBI at the time that their contacts were under surveillance.

"It's a question to watch, because such individuals tend to run their mouth about their time in office," said Ayers. "There's no one more likely to run to hyperbole that a former official. These guys puff up with pride like a toad frog."

The latest espionage rumpus between Washington and Moscow is the latest in a long line. It is unlikely to be the last.

One of the Soviet Union's most successful intelligence officials, Boris Solomatin, once said in a rare interview that U.S.-Russian spying would never end, although he argued it could and should become less "uncivilised" in a post Cold war era.

"The activity of both intelligence services will not stop, never will," said Solomatin, who oversaw the recruitment of John Walker, a naval communications specialist who sold U.S. secrets for cash in the 1970s and 1980s.

"We make heroes of those who help us and give them medals, and curse those who betray us," he told journalist Pete Earley.