Ex-KGB Major Boris Karpichkov said spies from Russias SVR intelligence service posing as diplomats tricked Snowden into seeking asylum in Russia <\/p>\n
Russian spies had whistleblower Edward Snowden in their sights SIX YEARS before he exposed US secrets, reports the Sunday People. <\/p>\n
Moscow believed the cyber wizard working for the CIA in Geneva was ripe for defection in 2007 and opened a file on him, says a KGB defector. <\/p>\n
But secret agents did not swoop until last year when Snowden, 30, fled to Hong Kong with 1.7 million top secret documents which he leaked to the media. <\/p>\n
Ex-KGB Major Boris Karpichkov said spies from Russias SVR intelligence service posing as diplomats tricked Snowden into seeking asylum in Russia. <\/p>\n
And when the turncoat went there the information was leaked to provoke the US into cancelling his passport , so restricting his movements, said Karpichkov. <\/p>\n
He believes the Kremlin will keep the ex-US intelligence official another three years until he has no more information to give. <\/p>\n
Kapichkov revealed that the SVR had a recruitment operational dossier on Snowden, who had diplomatic cover to maintain the CIAs computer network security in the Swiss city. <\/p>\n
But they did not approach him until he went to Hong Kong, when agents persuaded him President Putins Russia was the best place for him to seek asylum in a nation of his choice. <\/p>\n
Plot: Former KGB agent Boris Karpichkov <\/p>\n
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