American Spies Are Ousted on Air

American Spies Are Ousted on Air

Belorussian television showed an anonymous letter to USA diplomats

Yet another espionage scandal broke out in Minsk. Belorussian television’s “Channel one” reported that the KGB neutralized a group of agents, consisting of citizens of Belorussia, working with American reconnaissance. The names of the criminals, as well as the nature of the secret information which they shared with the enemy, were not released. Observers note that through the aid of persistent media coverage, the Belorussian authorities are attempting to show their anger towards the US embassy for the sanctions, initiated by Washington, against the Belorussian concern “Belneftekhim”.

Past Sunday, Belorussian residents learned of yet another successful operation of their special services from Belorussian television’s “Channel One” program “analytical panorama “. The main subject of the installment was a story about how local State Security Agents opened an espionage network made up of local residents, skillfully organized by the embassy of the USA in Minsk, under the cover of combating terrorism. Referencing the anonymous sources in the KGB, the author of the material, Andrey Krivosheyev, sited that the American diplomats with creating within the structure of their office a certain “group of development and detection”, which was joined by about ten people. The criminals, whose names were not released, were assigned by the FBI to gather and transfer information to the American side, which then was used “to the detriment of Belorussia”. The nature of the information was also not released.

The authors of the television investigation only mentioned that the well organized criminal group “was supplied with special equipment: cameras, binoculars, video cameras and telephones “. The secret information assembled by the criminals was allegedly transferred to their moderator – the FBI cadre colleague, who worked in the USA embassy under the diplomatic cover. His name was also not indicated. However, Belorussian television explained that it was forbidden for the members of group to enter the embassy and contact their colleagues, with exception of the moderator, for whose meetings there was a furnished secret apartment within a half-kilometer from the embassy. As it turns out, this is where the entire criminal group was detained on March 13 “while checking documents”. Belorussian television did not expand on the further fate of those detained.

It is remarkable that the Belorussian KGB, which usually reveals its successes with pleasure, this time flatly rejects to comment on espionage scandal. The USA embassy in Minsk does not hurry with their statements either.

Meanwhile the present case is far from the first espionage scandal that became public domain in the period of aggravated relations of Belorussian authorities with the West. In the past summer, during another round of tension in the relations with the European Union, the Belorussian KGB reported a disclosure of a Polish secret service agency in Belorussian territory. Five men were held on charges of espionage – four former Belorussian servicemen and one Russian, who were gathering information about the air defense systems of Belorussia and Russia for the Polish special services. True, that time the exploits of his employees were personally told on Belorussian television by KGB second-in-command, Major General Victor Vegard. The identities of the spies themselves were soon revealed, after reporting, however, that they were detained in January.

The present scandal around the USA embassy occurred against the background of a serious conflict between Minsk and Washington. In the beginning of March the USA Ministry of Finance tightened the sanctions introduced against the budget-concerning Belorussian concern of the “belneftekhim” remaining from the fall of 2007. The sanctions were applied to the complex of all Belorussian petrochemical enterprises with the state’s revenue portion of 50% and more (previous sanctions concerned only the representatives of the enterprises and its foreign “daughters”[branches]). In response to the sanctions, Minsk recalled its ambassador to the USA Mikhail Khvostov and advised the American State Department to act accordingly. As a result the head of the American diplomatic mission in Belorussia, Karen Stewart, departed for Washington for consultations. However, Minsk remains the loser, since the USA’s solution for these sanctions not was reviewed. It seems that it is under these conditions that the decision was made to win back the American embassy. “Nothing is understandable about this scandal. There is complete silence and no distinct commentaries, – described to “Kommersant” the editor in chief of the opposition newspaper “People Will” Svetlana Kalinkin. – – “Most likely, this is political expediency. In cases when embassies are actually mixed in something, everything is solved quietly. But if everything reaches the scandal, then there is only one purpose– the scandal itself”.

The fact that the USA embassy became the main target of Belorussian authorities is confirmed by yesterday’s statement made by the MID of Belorussia, who reported about the reduction of the state of American diplomatic mission almost in half. Previously Minsk required Washington to recall a part of its diplomats in order to equal their number with that of the Belorussian embassy representatives in the USA (it is composed of 18 people, whereas 38 people work in the American embassy in Minsk). Yesterday, after Jonathan Moore, charge of affaires ad interim of the USA, visited the Belorussian MID it became clear that the American side accepted Minsk’s conditions. “The USA representative stated that, in accordance with the requirement of Belorussia for leveling off on the parity basis the number of diplomatic missions in each other’s territory, the corresponding quantity of American diplomats are leaving Belorussia”, – reported the press- service of the Belorussian MID.