By Judi McLeod
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Now that the evidence released by a federal court says Paul William Hampel was an "elite Russian intelligence officer" masquerading as a Canadian citizen to gather information "for over a decade both within Canada and abroad", Russia's ambassador to Canada might need a few lessons in spy recognition from the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS).
ambassador Georgiy Mamedov had insisted that Hampel, deported back to Russia yesterday, was more likely a mobster or a drug dealer than one of his country's spies.
Now that the Russian spy as a Western threat is making a big comeback, officials like Mamedov should be brought up to snuff.
"I don't run a spy shop here," Mamedov said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), declaring he had not "the foggiest idea of the true nature of this mystery forger in Montreal."
Mamedov said Hempel could be a mobster or an agent of "any kind of international group". He offered no evidence to support his assertions, but urged Canadian and Russian agencies to cooperate as much as possible.
as Brian Mcadam wrote to Canada Free Press, "In any other country spies are sent to prison for many years--sometimes they are executed. In Canada they are deported in time to be home for Christmas."
Russian spies have been dominating the news overseas.
Britain has been informed by its intelligence that a network of more than 30 spies is currently at work in their country.
"The sophisticated ring represents the greatest espionage threat facing Britain, government and law-enforcement sources, says the London Sunday Telegraph.
"The startling intelligence was presented last week to Cabinet ministers at a meeting of Cobra, the anti-terrorist task force.
"The spies, equivalent in number to one in five of Moscow government officials based in Britain, are known to be monitoring the movements and activities of Russian migrs and opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putting it into perspective, government sources claim that the agents are as active today as they were at the height of the Cold War, despite the fact that the Kremlin is now one of Britain's major allies in the war on terrorism.
Indeed, according to the latest intelligence, only the United States has more Russian spies roaming at large than does Britain.
The skinny for John Q. Public in Britain is that the Russian spies are also involved in a "widespread operation targeting businessmen, members of Parliament and scientists in an attempt to steal commercial and state secrets".
Cobra has concluded that alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who died Nov. 23, was "most probably" slain by "state-sponsored assassins with the radioactive poison polonium 210 and that suspicion centered firmly on Moscow.
The former spy's takedown did not rest on one or two operatives.
"The Russian intelligence services are highly bureaucratic and legalistic. There isn't a great deal of room for personal initiative. Everything has to be officially authorized and signed off. and this murder would have been a highly complex operation involving many people, not one or two acting in isolation," one source told the Telegraph.
a shadowy group of KGB veterans called Dignity and Honor, run by Col. Velentin Velichko, is said to be suspect in the supposed "hit list" of people targeted for assassination by the Russian intelligence services.
Government officials and police were briefed by Cobra that Russia is being ruled by a "brutal regime" that regards dissidents such as the late Litvenenko and Boris Berezovsky--a Russian businessman living in exile in Britain--as terrorists.
Government sources said that Russia continues to spy on Britain because of its "insatiable" appetite for other countries' state secrets. The main areas of interest include finance, the energy industry, defense and electronics.
Russian spies are also infiltrating unsuspecting business circles in Britain.
Government officials say that the Russian spies target unsuspecting businessmen at trade fairs and functions at the Russian embassy.
In Toronto, the launch of Channel One Russia, the world's largest Russian language television broadcaster, is taking place tonight at the Metro Convention Center. Channel One Russia has signed a contract with Rogers Cable communication Inc.
as intelligence agents in Britain point out, meetings usually follow the exchange of business cards, during which a favour is asked and may be rewarded with cash or other "inducements".
Officials said that in a "throwback" to the Cold War, agents communicate by "live letter boxes" in which secret material is carried by one spy to another, or by "dead letter boxes" where the material is left in a covert location.
In the realm of business, the Russian spy comeback can be added to the Chinese spies now operating in increasing numbers in Britain, the US and Canada.
Meanwhile, the Cold War never ended, it just went underground.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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