THE ALLEGED Russian spy Katia Zatuliveter has vehemently denied working as an agent for Russian intelligence and says she is fighting against the British Home Office’s decision to deport her.
Ms Zatuliveter (25), an assistant to Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, was arrested early on Thursday. She was detained after MI5 concluded she had been secretly passing information to Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency.
In an e-mail to the BBC’s Russian service, Ms Zatuliveter said she was contesting the decision by Theresa May, the home secretary, to deport her. “I was arrested at 7am on Thursday and informed that I was to be deported. Nobody explained me why and this is most worrying,” she wrote.
Ms Zatuliveter said she had been given no access to a telephone and had not been told how her deportation would be arranged. She signed off: “Best regards, Katia.”
Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russia’s intelligence agencies, said Ms Zatuliveter may have been “burned” by another Russian spy who recently defected to the Americans. Mr Soldatov said that Col Alexander Poteyev – a former SVR foreign intelligence officer – could have “exposed some names” to the US, who passed them to the British.
Col Poteyev is believed to be the mole who this summer betrayed 10 Russian sleeper agents – including the glamorous spy Anna Chapman – who had been living under “deep cover” in the US for many years.
Mr Soldatov, co-author of The New Nobility, a book on Russia's FSB spy agency, said: "The only question is: was Katia really recruited or just put in the list of potential assets by some stupid Russian diplomat in the London embassy?"
According to reports in the Russian media, the Russian embassy in London has so far received no information about Ms Zatuliveter’s case. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow was now “examining whether she is a Russian citizen”.
If confirmed, she would be offered consular assistance, he said.
Mr Lavrov also hinted that unhelpful forces in Britain were trying to wreck the recent improvement in UK-Russian relations – prime minister David Cameron is due to visit Russia early next year.
“It’s not the first time,” said Mr Lavrov. “As soon as positive changes begin to emerge, somebody steps in.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's the World at One, foreign secretary William Hague shrugged off accusations that Britain's intelligence agencies had been lax over Ms Zatuliveter, and insisted that the government was vigilant about spying risks. Mr Hague said there was nothing wrong with MPs employing foreign-born staff, many of whom did outstanding work.
“But of course we have to be vigilant for individuals where there may be something else involved,” he added.
“We are vigilant. I think the fact that we are attending to a case like this shows that, where we have concerns, we do take action, and I think that is the right way to approach it.”
Ms Zatuliveter first came to Britain three years ago to study for a master’s degree at Bradford University. She had worked at the House of Commons since 2008. She had virtually organised the UK parliamentary committee on Russia, Westminster sources said.
Mr Hancock chaired the committee until MPs, alarmed by his pro-Kremlin views, ousted him this summer. He sits on the Commons defence select committee and is MP for Portsmouth South, where there is a naval base.
Downing Street, meanwhile, rejected claims in the Russian media that Ms Zatuliveter was being expelled as revenge for Russia's victory in the bid to host the 2018 World Cup. – ( Guardianservice)