Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)identified more than 260 foreign spies operating on its territory in the last two years, the head of Russia's counterintelligence department said in comments published Monday.
"Foreign special services have begun to employ new, nontraditional forms and methods of work with Russian citizens, many of which seemed impossible...just a few years ago," Lt. Gen. Nikolai Volobuyev told the Gazeta newspaper.
He said foreign intelligence agencies are increasingly recruiting Russians and are using more advanced technology to communicate and send information to their home countries.
The official also said the counterintelligence work has become the key factor of the FSB's activities.
Volobuyev said the FSB also prevented illegal activities by more than 31 foreign journalists, among whom 18 were deprived of their visas and were barred from entering Russia for the next fiveyears.
The interview was timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Russia's counterintelligence service, which was created as a unit of Cheka, the precursor to the Soviet KGB, in 1922. Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinisky was one of the first people to head the unit.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2002)
