RUSSIA - Jan 25 - Putin Links Foreign Spies To Private Groups.

Pres Vladimir Putin accuses foreign intelligence operatives of using private organisations to interfere in Russia's internal affairs, saying accusations that four British diplomats were spies justified new government restrictions on the groups. While he has previously criticised foreign support for organisations involved in politics here, he linked the groups to intelligence agencies more explicitly than before. His remarks intensified a political furor here that erupted after the disclosure of what officials said was a British espionage operation that used a communication device concealed in a fake rock to exchange information with a Russian agent. "We see that there are attempts to work with NGOs, with the help of special services, and that there is financing of NGOs through the channels of foreign secret services", he said in televised remarks from St. Petersburg, where he attending meetings with leaders of other former Soviet republics. "I think that nobody has the right, in the given situation, to claim that money has no smell", he added. One of the accused British diplomats, identified as Marc Doe, oversaw British grants to private organisations, including some prominent ones involved in promoting democracy and human rights. While intelligence officials acknowledged there was no direct connection between those grants and the alleged espionage, the distinction has largely evaporated in the fury of Russian reaction to the spy scandal. The lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a statement on Jan 25 denouncing support for private groups by foreign spies. "Such actions undermine trust in noncommercial, nongovernmental organizations", the statement read. British officials have declined to discuss Russia's accusations against the diplomats, though the Foreign Office rejected the idea that any of its grants to Russian organisations were improper. Some of the groups that the Russians have linked to the affair - though without specifying any violations of law - include the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Center for Democracy and Human Rights, the Eurasian Foundation and the Committee Against Torture. The scandal could worsen relations with Britain and perhaps other countries, as Russia sharpens its assault on European and American financial support for organisations that often criticise the Kremlin. Earlier this month, Putin signed into law new controls over private groups, forcing them to re-register and banning foreign financing of activities deemed to be political. Foreign leaders, along with Russian representatives of the organisations, have called the new controls an effort to stifle political discourse. Ulrich Fischer, president of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, described the accusations against its Moscow branch and other groups as slanderous. In a statement, he said the accusations were "apparently part of an official Russian policy to silence criticism and strengthen ever further a centralised state power". Putin, in his remarks, said that Russia was still considering whether to expel the four diplomats, all middle-ranking secretaries in the British Embassy, indicating for the first time that they had not yet been expelled or withdrawn, though the alleged espionage was reported to have been uncovered last fall. "As far as I am concerned, if these spies are expelled others will be sent", he said. "Maybe they will send some clever ones that will be hard for use to find later". He added that the FM and the Federal Security Service, a successor of the Soviet KGB, would recommend a decision on expulsion. Despite his criticism of foreign operatives, Putin said he did not intend to "spoil our relations with our partners". "We just want one thing: that we be treated in the same way as we treat the other members of the international community - that is, with respect", he said.