Moscow: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a
former KGB sleuth himself has promised "bright life" to 10 Russian spies exchanged with the US, including `hot spy` Anna Chapman, and even sang patriotic songs with them.
Putin blamed `betrayal` as the cause of busting
Russian spy ring in the US and pledged to provide `decent` jobs to the failed spies swapped under a deal between the two
countries.
"I am sure they will work in decent places, I am sure
they will have an interesting and bright life," Putin told
reporters during his visit to Ukraine.
Putin, himself a former KGB spy in East Germany, for
the first time disclosed to his pool reporters that he had met
with the 10 deported agents including `hot` spy Anna Chapman
and sang `patriotic songs` with them, NTV reported.
"We talked about life. We sang but not with a karaoke
box. We sang to live music and we sang `Where the Motherland
Begins` and other such songs," Putin said replying to
journalists yesterday.
Putin declared that he knew all the betrayers by name
and any further action against them was the matter for the
secret services, which `live under their own laws`.
"This was a result of betrayal. They (traitors) always
end up in a gutter, taking to drink or drugs," he said.
Obviously on the basis of his own personal experience
as KGB agent in Germany he said the life of a spy was very
tough.
"Imagine - they have to master a foreign language as
your own mother tounge, think and speak in it, fulfil tasks in
the interests of their motherland for many years without
counting on diplomatic immunity," Putin said in his televised
comments.
He confirmed that the agents cover had been blown as a
result of treachery and he knew the names of all the traitors.
"There is nothing much to comment on there. I have
already said that it was a result of treachery, and traitors
always end up badly either from abuse of alcohol or drugs,
somewhere in the gutter. One has recently ended up almost like
this. And I don`t understand what it was all about," Putin was
quoted as saying.
When asked whether he would disclose names of the
traitors, he said, "This is an incorrect question. It cannot
be solved at a press conference. They live by their own laws,
and all special services are well aware of these laws."
The group of 10 spies, many of whom had been working
for years undercover in the United States as sleeper agents,
returned to Russia earlier this month in a swap that saw
Moscow send four Russian convicts to America.
However, Putin did not give any details about his
encounter with 28-year-old Anna Chapman nor he confirmed where
and when did he meet the spies.
PTI
