Love me like a rock

The Russians were not amused to discover that the Brits were evidently committing espionage. The Brits say the Russians do it all the time. What's the big deal?

At least that't the gist of this article in the NZ Herald.

Row escalates over UK 'spy rock' in Moscow

24.01.06 1.00pm
By Kim Sengupta and Andrew Osborn


MOSCOW - The row over allegations of spying by British diplomats in Moscow escalated as Russian officials accused MI6 of reneging on a "deal" over espionage at the end of the Cold War.

The Russian security service, FSB, claimed yesterday that it had decided to "expose" the undercover activities of the diplomats because Britain had flouted an agreement between the two countries not to spy on each other.

But in London security sources maintained that the Russians had themselves been engaged in widespread intelligence gathering in Britain.

Read it all to get the whole sordid story.