‘I will clear my name’ says Russian aide accused of spying

Twenty-five-year-old Katia Zatuliveter, a Russian who has been working inside parliament as an MP’s assistant, insists she will appeal and clear her name. Her employer, Portsmouth MP Mike Hancock, says she has done nothing wrong and he will stand by her.

He said: “She doesn’t know what it is she’s been accused of and I find that very difficult to understand.

“I have no reason to ever doubt her honesty and the transparency of her way of doing things.”

Ms Zatuliveter is currently in a detention centre and facing deportation. She has worked for the Liberal Democrat since 2008. He is on the Commons Defence Select Commitee and his constituency has a large naval base.

I find it bizarre that a Russian citizen has been working for a defence committee in British parliament. Alexander Nekrassov, former Kremlin adviser

Alexander Nekrassov, a former Kremlin adviser, told Channel 4 News it is a surprise that she has been working in parliament.

He said: “I find it bizarre that a Russian citizen has been working for a defence committee in British parliament which deals with some of the most sensitive information in the whole of government.

“I suspect that during the vetting process the people who were looking into her record didn’t release she was actually a Russian.

“After what has been happening in the west generally with the Russian spy network uncovered in America and Britain, I think you would expect the security services in Britain would be more on alert when it comes to recruiting people for important positions.”

Russian spying has 'absolutely' not gone away, Lord West tells Channel 4 News
Former security minister Lord West explained why there's every reason Russia still wants to spy on the UK, although he would not talk about the specific case involving Katia Zatuliveter.

He said: "What's interesting is that the amount of vetting people get relates very much to the high-level access they have and how constantly they have that access.

"I imagine that in the job she was in there was not very high-level material seen on a regular basis, so the vetting she would have received isn't the sort of vetting that's received for someone who is in a job where they constantly have access to very high-grade material.

"I can't see that Russians working in a large number of jobs in the House would be a problem at all. It always relates to what access people have to highly-classified material, and then I think checks would have to be done. 

"And one always just has to have at the back of one's mind that there are some countries which we know historically have been very interested in espionage - not always for military secrets but very often to get commercial advantage, industrial espionage, that sort of thing."

Lord West added that the UK is still "absolutely" of interest to the Russians.

He explained: "There was a feeling with the collapse of the iron curtain that this had gone away, I think that was a mistake because it hasn't gone away.

"Still, although some people would want to mark us down, we are still a great power - we're a nuclear power. Much moreso because we have industrial and scientific capabilities that do occasionally give commerical advantage."

It is believed Ms Zatuliveter was arrested by police and Border Agency officials last week. The Sunday Times reported that Home Secretary Theresa May had approved her arrest after being briefed by MI5. If the allegations prove to be true, this would be the first case since the cold war of a Russian agent being removed from the Houses of Parliament.

Earlier, Oleg Gordievsky, a former KGB officer, told Channel 4 News that the FSB (formerly the KGB) has at least 25 officers in the UK and that it is their role to recruit British people to help them.

He said: “Russians are spying just as much as before only now it’s easier because Russians believe that the western public is very, very easy. They like Russia, they believe that the cold war is finished so why not allow a nice young Russian girl to work in the House of Commons? But that’s wrong because Russian espionage is stronger than ever before. They never believed the cold war was over.”

Read more:  'Britain is under attack from Russian spies'