Afinal, o Reino Unido andava mesmo a espiar os russos com uma “pedra falsa”

[WM]

É uma história evocativa das engenhocas que Q construía para James Bond: uma pedra falsa, feita de plástico, dentro da qual estava dissimulado um sofisticado aparelho de escuta, foi colocada por agentes secretos britânicos numa rua de Moscovo.

O Reino Unido negou oficialmente a história durante mais de cinco anos, desde que o Kremlin denunciou o caso, mas agora o antigo chefe de gabinete do então primeiro-ministro Tony Blair veio admitir a artimanha dos serviços secretos britânicos. “A história da pedra falsa foi embaraçosa. Fomos apanhados com a boca na botija. E é óbvio que [os russos] o sabiam há muito tempo e guardaram a informação para quando lhe podiam dar o melhor uso político”, reconhece Jonathan Powell no excerto de um documentário – intitulado Putin, a Rússia e o Ocidente – que é hoje transmitido pela BBC.

“Não há grande coisa que se possa dizer quando se é apanhado desta maneira. Não se podia telefonar-lhes a pedir desculpa e prometer que não voltaria a acontecer”, nota Powell.

O escândalo diplomático explodiu quando a televisão estatal russa exibiu um filme onde era sustentado que agentes britânicos tinham escondido um transmissor na pedra falsa deixada numa rua do centro da capital russa, acusando responsáveis da embaixada britânica em Moscovo de retirarem informação secreta do aparelho com computadores portáteis.

Fonte: Reino Unido andava mesmo a espiar os russos com uma


P.S.: Se ja existir este tema, por favor pede-se à moderação que faça o seu merge.

[luissousa6]

Não estou nadita surpreendido!

[Valium]

Mas qual era o objectivo da pedra no meio da rua, era para escutar quem?

Lembro-me de ter visto qualquer coisa nos noticiários, mas não prestei grande atenção na altura.

[XlPower]

Mas afinal estava a escutar quem?

[WM]

Estas imagens foram mostradas pelos russos, e mostram um membro da embaixada Inglesa a colocar e retirar a pedra do sitio.





Mais informaçoes:

Stone master caught on camera
A story on a transmitter disguised as an unremarkable stone peacefully lying on a patch of grass in a Moscow suburb was first aired by the state TV-channel Rossia 1 in a program by Arkady Mamontov, known for his pro-government pieces. The footage showed a man slowing his walking pace and glancing at a stone in front of him. And another man was filmed by the camera taking the rock away.
The second secretary of the embassy, Marc Doe was caught on camera together with some other British diplomats, according to Mamontov’s report.
The highlight of Mamontov’s program was the fact that Doe was the overseer of several Russian NGOs and endorsed documents concerning financial support for some of them.


NGOs face the fallout
The report attracted the attention of the world’s media, and then-President Vladimir Putin personally.
Putin said at the time that financial support from abroad should be cancelled for Russian NGOs, which was promptly dubbed by critics as an attempt to gain more control over local NGOs.
Highly-reputable human-rights watchdog Moscow Helsinki Group took the FSB to court, claiming the accusations that it served foreign governments in order to receive funding from abroad was nothing but slander. The group lost the case.
Although the scandal faded after some time, the Russian-British relationship was seriously damaged after that. The notorious poisoning of former-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London, which happened later in 2006, was another blow for the relationship between the two countries.

Fonte:‘Spy-rock’ was the real deal – British | RUSSIA | The Moscow News


Aqui vêm mais dados sobre este processo:
British rock did spy on Russia

The incident was broadcast on Russian TV at a time when its government was seeking to justify new restrictive laws on human rights and pro-democracy campaigners. Vladimir Putin, who was then Russian president, said the groups were being funded by Western government agencies.


The video showed alleged British agents repeatedly walking past the rock located next to a Moscow street. In one clip a man kicked the device, possibly because it had malfunctioned, while another British diplomat was seen picking up the football-sized rock and walking away with it.


The FSB, the Russian intelligence service, broadcast close-ups and X-rays of a hollowed-out rock filled with circuitry and accused four British men and one Russian of using a transmitter inside to download information on to a palm-top computer.


(...)


FSB spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko said: ''This is the first time we caught them red-handed in the process of contacting their agents here.''