MP's assistant accused of spying
Source: Agencies |
December 6, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A YOUNG Russian woman working for a British politician is facing deportation after security services detained her on suspicion of espionage, the Sunday Times reported yesterday.
The paper reported that Katia Zatuliveter, 25, secretly worked for Russian intelligence as a "sleeper" agent.
She had been working for Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock. He sits on the UK parliament's defense select committee which examines defence policy but has no access to secret material.
Hancock, who is MP for Porstmouth in southern England where there is a large naval base, denied his research assistant had done anything wrong.
"She is not a Russian spy. I know nothing about espionage, but she has been subjected to a deportation order," Hancock said. He said she would appeal moves to deport her.
Hancock said the domestic security service, MI5, had never raised any concerns about her with him.
"No one has ever said to me under any circumstances whatsoever that she has been involved in anything like that," he said. "It is now in the hands of her lawyers. I am sure that in the end she will be proved to be right."
Hancock told the BBC she was arrested on Thursday morning and taken to an immigration detention centre in London, before being moved to another center where she is being held.
"Nobody has shown me any evidence to support the view that she is any way a threat to the United Kingdom," Hancock said. He said his assistant, who had worked for him for nearly three years, had passed strict security vetting procedures to work in parliament.
The paper said her removal was approved by Home Secretary Theresa May.
The paper said it was the first time since the end of the Cold War that someone working in parliament had been accused of spying for the Russians.
The paper reported that Katia Zatuliveter, 25, secretly worked for Russian intelligence as a "sleeper" agent.
She had been working for Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock. He sits on the UK parliament's defense select committee which examines defence policy but has no access to secret material.
Hancock, who is MP for Porstmouth in southern England where there is a large naval base, denied his research assistant had done anything wrong.
"She is not a Russian spy. I know nothing about espionage, but she has been subjected to a deportation order," Hancock said. He said she would appeal moves to deport her.
Hancock said the domestic security service, MI5, had never raised any concerns about her with him.
"No one has ever said to me under any circumstances whatsoever that she has been involved in anything like that," he said. "It is now in the hands of her lawyers. I am sure that in the end she will be proved to be right."
Hancock told the BBC she was arrested on Thursday morning and taken to an immigration detention centre in London, before being moved to another center where she is being held.
"Nobody has shown me any evidence to support the view that she is any way a threat to the United Kingdom," Hancock said. He said his assistant, who had worked for him for nearly three years, had passed strict security vetting procedures to work in parliament.
The paper said her removal was approved by Home Secretary Theresa May.
The paper said it was the first time since the end of the Cold War that someone working in parliament had been accused of spying for the Russians.
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