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Russia’s ‘illegals’: the deep-cover spies who can be both clumsy and dangerous

An attempt to infiltrate the ICC draws attention to a scheme launched in the cold war era, active from New York to Salisbury

The man accused by Dutch intelligence of trying to secure an internship at the international criminal court developed an elaborately constructed false identity over many years, marking him out as one of Russia’s prized programme of “illegals” – a spying programme that originated during the cold war.

The programme – dramatised in recent years in the hit TV show The Americans – has been revived extensively under Vladimir Putin.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/oLN9jrC

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