Russian spies welcomed home as heroes

[lunarpowered]

Russia Welcomes Home Its Spies -- So What Now? - Yahoo! News

By SIMON SHUSTER / MOSCOW Simon Shuster / Moscow – Mon Jul 26, 6:45 pm ET

Whatever their failings, the 10 Russian agents kicked out of the U.S. earlier this month must have done something right to win the adoration of Russia's most famous former spy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In a rare bit of candor about his private affairs, Putin described on Saturday how he had personally welcomed the agents home with a pep talk and a patriotic sing-along. But some of his comments left experts scratching their heads. Why was he piling such praise on a group of spies who were, by most accounts, not very good at spying? And what exactly is the bright future he promised them now that they are comfortably back in Russia?

According to two veterans of Russia's foreign intelligence service, most of the things Putin mentioned, including the serenade to Mother Russia, fit into the process of re-integration that spies normally undergo. When asked by a reporter at Saturday's press conference what the spies would do now, Putin said curtly, "They will work. I'm sure that they will have good jobs, and I'm sure that they will have interesting and bright lives." (See pictures of notorious Russian spies throughout history.)

This could mean different things for the different members of the spy ring, says Mikhail Lyubimov, a retired colonel of the KGB and a renowned Cold War spy. The ones who have kept a lower profile through the scandal could be given new identities and moved up within the ranks of the secret service, although it is unlikely that they will be sent back into the field, Lyubimov says. But those who have been more conspicuous, such as Anna Chapman - who was dubbed the femme fatale of the group after her naked photos were leaked to the media - should not hold out hope for a career among the warriors of the secret front.

"Some of them have just been too deeply compromised," Lyubimov says. It would be too dangerous to have them hanging around with other agents when fans are chasing them for autographs, and pornographers are asking them to feature in their movies, as happened with Chapman last week. "So they will be offered jobs in government banks, or other private firms controlled by the state. This would be the normal practice." (See why Moscow admitted the spy suspects are Russian.)

Yet Chapman, for one, does not seem destined to melt back into obscurity. Last week, Angelina Jolie sent her a personal invitation to the Moscow premier of Salt, a spy thriller in which Jolie plays a Russian spy. Although Chapman did not show up, a friend of hers, Cordelia Donovan, who lives in New York City and has been e-mailing back and forth with Chapman since her deportation, tells TIME that the ex-spy had been very tempted. "She's a normal young woman. Why wouldn't she want to be on the red carpet?" Donovan asks. Even more tempting might be the chance to go into politics. The Liberal Democrats, a nationalist party, are considering a place for her on their ballot in the next parliamentary elections. "We've been discussing how we can bring her onboard," party official Ivan Kosenko told TIME on Monday. (See why the spy swap is a sign of strong U.S.-Russia relations.)

Indeed, little seems more valuable in the arena of Russian politics than a background in espionage. Scores of ministers and deputies in the Russian parliament have had ties to the secret service, and Putin himself served as a KGB agent in East Germany during the Cold War. In his time in office, first as President and now as Prime Minister, he has worked to restore the prestige of Russia's intelligence agencies to make them more attractive to new recruits and less ominous to the everyday Russian.

For some observers, this helps explain the nostalgic pleasure Putin seemed to take in welcoming the spies back home. One of the songs they sang was an unofficial anthem of the secret services called "What Does the Motherland Start With?" - it's the theme song from an old Soviet TV show that was almost as whimsical in its depiction of spies as Putin was on Saturday. "Just imagine," he said to reporters. "You have to learn a foreign language as if it was your native tongue. You have to think in it, speak in it, and execute all the tasks set by the Motherland ... Your own children don't even know what you do!"

Such praise for Chapman and her cohorts came as a surprise to Oleg Nechiporenko, an ex-KGB colonel whose cover was blown in 1971 when he was accused of supporting leftist radicals in Mexico. Nechiporenko says the caliber of spies he had worked with then was far higher than those busted by the FBI last month, and many former agents have publicly said that some of the slip-ups exposed by the FBI were downright humiliating. In perhaps the most famous example, Chapman registered a cellphone using a fake Russian name and the address 99 Fake St., and then threw the receipt in a public trash bin where the FBI picked it up, according to the Bureau's affidavit.

But despite the mistakes, Nechiporenko says some kind of reception would still need to be part of a spy's re-integration. "For me there was a banquet, there were medals, promotions, and, of course, I got a raise," Nechiporenko says. "This is all part of the tradition if you're exposed by no fault of your own." Part of the reason for the festivities, he adds, is to smooth a spy's path up the official hierarchy, to make everyone aware that he or she deserves respect.

Yet Lyubimov says Putin went further than usual in this case. To have the most powerful man in the country sing songs and celebrate with a group of agents, and then discuss it publicly, "that is something new," he says. "That shows a new respect for the role of the foreign intelligence service that I haven't seen before. And it probably indicates the attention and care these individuals will get now that they've returned to the Motherland." Whether this means the ex-spies will have new careers in politics or spycraft, Putin seems to have taken a personal interest in making their futures as cozy as possible.

What are your thoughts on this?

[mcurrier]

"So they will be offered jobs in government banks, or other private firms controlled by the state. This would be the normal practice."

Seems like normal practice for liberals in America as well (notice that I didn't say liberal Americans, as that would be an oxymoron).

[kb4ns]

(notice that I didn't say liberal Americans, as that would be an oxymoron).

[JAB]

I'm not surprised that Putin would want to drum up support and fanfare for Russian spies - especially those that had been spying on our country. I have long felt that, if he could, Putin would re-hang the Iron Curtain in a heartbeat. Of course, I have never met the man but I don't trust him one bit. I wouldn't be surprised to find that his fingers are pulling at least some of the strings controlling global concerns the U.S. faces, today. I think he holds a grudge because his nation crapped out and ours hasn't. At least, not yet.