MOSCOW, March 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Vladimir Putin has accused foreign intelligence services of beefing up activities in Russia, announcing that hundreds of spies were stopped in 2018 alone.
Without going into details, he said “129 staff members and 465 agents of foreign special services were foiled”.
In his speech to officers of Russia’s FSB security service, Putin said their work had to be efficient, especially in protecting data on the development of weapons systems.
“We see foreign intelligence agencies trying to increase their activity towards Russia, seeking by all means to access political, economic, scientific and technological information,” he said.
After EU leaders agreed with the UK that Russia was highly likely to have been behind the Skripal attack in Salisbury last year, more than 25 countries expelled Russian diplomats.
Several intelligence agencies have acted against alleged Russian spy networks.
In December, the Czech Republic said it had broken up a group that used the Russian embassy as cover.
Dutch security services said two months earlier that they had foiled a plot to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW.
Last month, Putin said Russia would start developing a new type of medium-range missiles and said they would be aimed at Western capitals, if the West deployed missiles in Europe. — NNN-AGENCIES
