MI6 still owes me money, claims `spy'

A Russian who claims to have spied for Britain has turned himself in, to Russia's security services, allegedly because he was disgusted by the miserly and high-handed treatment he received from his handlers. As Phil Reeves reports from Moscow, it is unclear if his case is propaganda aimed at deterring other "spooks", or hard fact. But that did not stop it making the headlines.

There have always been plenty of horrible jobs in Russia. Who would work in a Siberian coal mine? Or serve meals on clapped-out Soviet aircraft? Or freeze in the Russian army? Now a new category can, it seems, be added to the list: spying for Whitehall.

Witness the sad claims of "Sasha", a Russian whom Moscow's security services say has been selling secrets to Britain. Did Her Majesty's government reward him with gifts, riches, fast cars and amusing gadgets? Nyet. Or, at least, so he says.

The aggrieved spook's complaints were outlined yesterday in Segodnya newspaper. "I have got a score to settle with the British intelligence service," ran the headline.

Sasha, a nickname he claims was given to him by the SIS (MI6), said he approached British intelligence in the early Nineties, after runaway inflation wiped out his savings, and the failure of a business reduced him to bankruptcy. As a researcher at a secret research institute, he decided to try to make money by selling information to London.

The British Embassy in Moscow was yesterday tightlipped about the claims, but the Russians appeared happy to exploit a propaganda coup. The Federal Security Service (FSB), heirs to the KGB, told the news agency Interfax that Sasha does indeed exist, although under a different name. "He contacted us last year," said a spokesman,who seemed to identify his own agency as the story's source, which suggests that the FSB may be using it to try to deter other freelance spies or to lure them into deserting.

True or false, Sasha's account is littered with pleasing details. He said he met with a diplomat from the British Embassy in Moscow who communicated only with gestures. He then travelled to Lithuania, he said, for a meeting with two Britons, "James" and "Robert", who quizzed him, handed him $4,000 and informed him that a bank account had been opened in his name.

But as his information began to run dry, so did the enthusiasm of his spy masters. His career came to an end several months after he went to complain about their failure to live up to a promise to pay him $100,000, and to move him abroad. He said he got a letter thanking him for his work, and informing him that he was no longer needed. "Don't bother us again," said the letter.

The British intelligence service is a system "where people don't count", Sasha complained to Segodnya.