Real-life James Bonds used fake rock to spy on Russia

Rossiya via AFP - Getty Images

A combination of video grabs from footage broadcast by Russian state-run television in 2006 allegedly shows a man, said to be a British spy, in a park outside Moscow collecting a fake rock being used as a high-tech version of the spy's traditional letter-box or dead drop in which agents can anonymously deliver or retrieve information.

RTR via Reuters

Russian television said there was a transmitter inside the fake rock.

In an embarrassing episode for the British security services, Tony Blair's former chief of staff has admitted that the U.K. used a fake rock to spy on Russia. Reuters reports:

In a television program aired on Russian state television in 2006, Russia's FSB security service accused Britain of using the gadget for top secret communications in Moscow, but London did not admit to the charge at the time.

Now Jonathan Powell, who was chief of staff to then Prime Minister Tony Blair, has confirmed the Russians were correct.

"They had us bang to rights," Powell says in a BBC documentary to be aired on Thursday.

"There's not much you can say. You can't really call up and say 'terribly sorry about that and it won't happen again'," Powell says. Read the full story.

RTR via Reuters

Russian television showed an X-ray of what they said was a transmitter in the rock.

Tony Blair's former chief of staff admits in a BBC documentary that Britain used a rock with communications equipment inside to spy on Russia. Msnbc.com's Alex Witt reports.

Discuss this post

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Russian spies are cuter...

  • 15 votes
#1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:41 AM EST

Spy v. Spy?

How could it be?

I'm shocked I tell you. Just shocked.

.

  • 8 votes
#1.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:38 AM EST

Seems a little antiquated for 2006, eh chaps?

  • 5 votes
#1.2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:55 AM EST

I keep thinking, what if a rock collector had of stumbled over the spy rock, picked it up and took it home for his garden. The British would have been upset and the poor Russian that took it home? Well he would have been a guest at a firing squad and the U.S. would get all the blame.

  • 5 votes
#1.3 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:15 AM EST

I saw the picture and thought they found like the Yeti or something. It looks like some weird hairy creature cause of the way they took the picture. Stupid spies.

  • 6 votes
#1.4 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:17 AM EST

I thought the exact same thing! more like bigfoot not 007 . . . . .

  • 2 votes
#1.5 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:27 AM EST

007? Looks more like Mr. Bean. Nice amatuer OP.

  • 7 votes
#1.6 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:46 AM EST

Gentlemen...

    #1.7 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:52 AM EST

    Kind of a non-story- the Bond girls used fake boobs a lot to lure HIM in!

    Worked well - OK by me!

    • 3 votes
    #1.8 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:10 AM EST

    Hello all- does anybody know how to disable this "Post on Facebook " crap permanently?

    • 2 votes
    #1.9 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:11 AM EST

    Im terribly sorry you see. In fact in this matter I may simply jog on. Looks as though I may have been left dangling with my good friends Jhon Thomas . ; ]

    Cheers

    • 2 votes
    #1.10 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:20 AM EST

    As far as I know, if the "post to my facebook wall" at the bottom of the comments is unchecked, it shouldn't post, unless you're logging via facebook.

    • 1 vote
    #1.11 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:22 AM EST

    Well, at least one of them is...

    • 1 vote
    #1.12 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:23 AM EST

    Max, Russian spys are cuter!

    Yeah, I liked the redhead they deported back to Russia last year!

    • 1 vote
    #1.13 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:32 AM EST

    Yes, Hemi Man, she was hawt...

    Nazis also had some hot women spies, like Russian born Marina Lee: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/26/russian-ballerina-nazi-spy-marina-lee

    • 1 vote
    #1.14 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:02 PM EST

    In the British Intelligence Agency it isn't about looks, it is about who can hide the rock and keep the Secrets safe... He was the only British spy who could fit the rock in his anus..

    In the fourth photo you can see him hide it...

    • 4 votes
    #1.15 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:35 PM EST
    Reply

    Guess they failed spying-101

    • 1 vote
    Reply#2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:22 AM EST

    Failed seems a bit presumptuous. The article didn't say how long the device was in place or how much information it gathered. In any case, the Brits admitted it and that says "we got what we needed." Come on folks, it's a good spy story! Enjoy it.

    • 1 vote
    #2.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:26 AM EST

    im guessing the russions always gather around in parks around rocks to discuss sensitive information. oh just re read. its just a transmitter

      #2.2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:03 PM EST
      Reply

      You never know what's going to climb out from under a rock.

      • 6 votes
      Reply#3 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:23 AM EST

      Awesome

      • 2 votes
      Reply#4 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:23 AM EST

      lol....busted. Sarcastically speaking....Why would anyone ever need to spy on Russia? It's all fun and games until global war breaks out.

      • 8 votes
      Reply#5 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:23 AM EST

      Nice looking rock. If I was a Russian citizen wandering through the park, I'd probably pick it up and take it home.

      • 3 votes
      Reply#6 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:26 AM EST

      "There's not much you can say. You can't really call up and say 'terribly sorry about that and it won't happen again',"

      Hahahaha!!

      • 9 votes
      Reply#7 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:26 AM EST

      Nice. Liberals will hate this. Conservatives will love it. Liberals will say we shouldnt be doing this around the world. Conservatives will love it and see it as a nation proactively protecting itself. It's just good to know this is going on and has been for many years. The English just got caught.

      • 5 votes
      Reply#8 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:31 AM EST

      I'm a liberal and I like this. Looks like that blows your theory all to hell.

      • 24 votes
      #8.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:37 AM EST

      No dumbass liberals will say the spying is ok we need it but why show a photo of a spy tool which should be kept secret so it can be used again.

      • 1 vote
      #8.2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:39 AM EST

      just reminds me the world is ran by paranoid sociopaths.

      who wouldnt find that awesomely hilarious?

      • 5 votes
      #8.3 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:48 AM EST

      Well as this is a Brittish spy issue I don't see how democrates or republicans fit into this picture, but ok. I am liberal and I think its hilarious. Also I have to agree...Russian spies are cuter.

      • 10 votes
      #8.4 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:49 AM EST

      Liberals will say it causes global warming and the EPA will ban it.

      • 2 votes
      #8.5 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:54 AM EST

      Stpn2me.... who pissed in your Wheaties this morning? What the hell does this have to do with being a liberal or conservative? Have you been living under a rock or something? Lighten up, dude.

      • 8 votes
      #8.6 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:54 AM EST

      Marty:

      Before you call others a dumbass read and really try to understand although we know it is a struggle for you to do so. Ths article states "THEY WERE CAUGHT" so I hardley think that the article 'outed' anything by taking a COPY of a photograph, aired in Russia on Russian T.V., and inserting it here. The true moron here appears to be yourself, what a knob, must make your mom real proud huh?

      • 8 votes
      #8.7 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:08 AM EST

      you people are so ignorant you are human beings and thats it. not liberal or conservative. every farce(foolish show, mockery, a ridiculous sham) name that you put on yourself is the first step in the brainwashing that has been going on in all aspects of our lives. until you can realize every made up name you put on yourself and others is nothing but a joke we will always be doomed to be thinking we are different and fighting amongst each other while the 1% sit and laugh at how ignorant you are.

      • 10 votes
      #8.8 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:40 AM EST

      @gamer4life...I think you forgot to take your meds.

      • 1 vote
      #8.9 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:31 AM EST

      gamer4life, right on. Our politicians are now like the Protestant and Catholic of Ireland a few years back. Fellow countrymen fighting over ideologue while agreeing on nothing.

      • 1 vote
      #8.10 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:48 AM EST

      This looks like the Rock & Roll method of spying.

      The pictures aren't very Bond like, it appears more like John Belushi in Animal House sneaking into the deans building.

      • 1 vote
      #8.11 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:54 AM EST
      Reply

      Just one of hundreds all over their country. Now, Iranians will be out turning over all the rocks around their sensitive areas, and they have more rocks than anyone.

      • 9 votes
      Reply#9 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:32 AM EST

      gee, i hope no one puts a big rock around my sensitive area! ROFLMAO!!!!!!

        #9.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:18 AM EST
        Reply

        OOPS!!!

        • 2 votes
        Reply#10 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:36 AM EST
        Comment author avatarGreene Beanvia Facebook

        it was an extraterrestrial asteroid. o___O

        • 1 vote
        Reply#11 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:38 AM EST

        Leave no stone unturned!

        • 8 votes
        Reply#12 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:40 AM EST

        Rock Center reporting on Rock Spying..makes sense.

          Reply#13 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:42 AM EST

          How embarrassing

          • 1 vote
          Reply#14 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:45 AM EST

          Still not as clever as putting a passive transmitter n the Great Seal of the United States in the Embassy in Moscow. Or a hundred and one other tricks the Russians played on the United States and Great Britian over the years. You'd laugh your self silly if I could tell you about some that we played and planted on them, but if I did someone would come and burn your house down.

            #14.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:50 PM EST

            Nothing embarrasses the British, They've had double, triple and quadruple spies and tricks since before the Russian revolution. They were instrumental in putting Lenin in power until Stalin upstaged them and him. You don't get to be a world power unless you have a strong spy network. Who backed down in the Cuban missile crisis. Kruschev was banging his shoes on the table about what he would do to America. Spies and spy planes such as the U-2 told Kennedy he couldn't cut the mustard. He crawled back to his Dasha with his tail between his legs sans a shoe. If you don't got um, you better get um. Stock in trade of all spy organizations is to make themselve look incompetent and stupid, that way they never know what hit them. I hear an Iranian scientist just blew himself up, the Mossad couldn't have done they are nothing but a bnch of Jew idiots. Hello.

              #14.2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:07 PM EST
              Reply

              The British couldn't decide between a Rock or a handset. Think about it.

              • 1 vote
              Reply#15 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:46 AM EST

              gives me cause to wonder, how many and where are the spy rocks that have been placed in the U.S. not so much concerned about Russian rocks, more so Iranian rocks, or political gravel like demos and repubs, Yep, big brother is watching.

              • 2 votes
              Reply#16 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:46 AM EST

              Boy boy,

              This headline made my day!

              Funny story, I guess it became public to embarrass the Brits.

              L-O-L

              • 3 votes
              Reply#17 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:47 AM EST

              This was news in 2006, and it was all over the news... so what is msn doing now? Recycling?

              • 2 votes
              Reply#18 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:49 AM EST

              Not recycling...the Brits are only admitting to it now, so it's now a confirmed spy story.

              • 4 votes
              #18.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:13 AM EST

              Who took the picture?

                #18.2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:47 PM EST

                A british spy, who was a double agent working for the Mossad and the CIA. It was our rock and the British had no right using it. They should have got their own rock. We had to drop the rock on their toe.

                  #18.3 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:13 PM EST

                  Your reply was really good NC I'm snore laughing on my seat!!!

                    #18.4 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:34 PM EST

                    I pictured a Russian spy laying in a field taking a pic of a British spy fumbling through a field looking for the spy rock. Yours was better NC.

                      #18.5 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:24 PM EST
                      Reply

                      shoulda used a fake snowman..

                      • 5 votes
                      Reply#19 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:50 AM EST

                      yeah Nikki, rock on...did I tell you guys about the H1N1 showing up at my sister's school in TX first in the US and then "miraculously" jumping straight to NYC?

                        #19.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:40 AM EST

                        Like I was telling our representative a couple years back, I was going by the area of the Governor's mansion in TX via that road that goes by white sands and there was a burning pickup with a horse trailer, and a guy with the horse he rescued out of it, on the side of the road at the top of the hill at white sands. I was only later to learn that that was the night that the governor's mansion caught fire; and I heard they saved the garage, so they couldn't collect on the banged up car inside.

                          #19.2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:48 AM EST
                          Reply

                          Nothing new.

                            Reply#20 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:50 AM EST

                            The CIA, FBI,ATF, HS, TSA, hey they all rock.

                              Reply#21 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:56 AM EST

                              Looks like they got caught between a rock and a hard place. Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

                              • 5 votes
                              Reply#22 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:57 AM EST

                              It's only rock and roll, but I like it!

                                #22.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:24 AM EST
                                Reply

                                What is the big deal, we did it with a rock too. Palin said she could see Russia from her yard.

                                • 13 votes
                                Reply#23 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:03 AM EST

                                EJRAND has my vote for post of the week.

                                • 2 votes
                                #23.1 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:32 AM EST

                                Yep, EJRAND had the quote of the day about rocks-in-her-head Palin.

                                • 2 votes
                                #23.2 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:42 AM EST

                                ....and the narcissist incompetent in the White House thinks we have 57 states.

                                • 3 votes
                                #23.3 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:53 PM EST

                                That's strange, I thought she couldn't see past her nose from some of her statements and quotes. This is not directed against all women, but we went wrong when we taught some of them to speak. I've worked under a lot of women supervisors in my day and I found that seventy five percent of them just didn't have people skills. Some of them were beautiful women in terms of being a mother or a grandmother or a wife, but they just couldn't grasp that the people under them were none of these things. Sarah Palin comes off like this to me. If she were in charge we would all become her children, or grandchildren or last in line her husband. He reminds me of George Anthony under the thumb of Cindy Anthony. She was Governor of Alaska using this theme and now she's a back seat driver in the Republican Fiasco. Turn here Newt. Sit up straight Romney. If you other kids don't behave we're going to turn around and go back home.

                                  #23.4 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:28 PM EST
                                  Reply

                                  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone is not out to get you... Spying will always be around

                                    Reply#24 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:03 AM EST

                                    The rock model was an upgrade from the log

                                    • 3 votes
                                    Reply#25 - Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:04 AM EST
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