Putin meets deported spies and sings songs

DATELINE: FOROS July 26

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is currently visiting Ukraine, has met with the Russian intelligence agents deported from the United States.

“I met with them. We talked about life,” Putin told journalists on Saturday.

Asked whether they really sang karaoke songs during the meeting, Putin said: “Yes, we did, though not at karaoke, we sang “Where does Homeland begin from?” accompanied by live music.”

Asked about the future fate of the spies, the prime minister said, “They will be working.”

“I am sure they will work at worthy places. I am sure they will have an interesting and bright life,” the prime minister said.

Putin also confirmed that Anna Chapman was among the agents.

“There is not much I comment on here, I already said that this is the result of a betrayal, and betrayers always end up very sadly, normally, from drinking, drugs or under the fence. Just recently somebody ended his existence this way, but what for is unclear,” Putin said.

The prime minister confirmed he knows all betrayers by their names.

Asked whether he is going to punish them, he said, “This is not a correct question.” “It cannot be resolved at a press conference, they live by their own laws, and these laws are well known to all secret services.”

The life of Russian intelligence agents is “very hard,” Putin said.

“Just imagine: first, you need to learn the language to the mother tongue level, think and speak the language, and do what is prescribed by the mission in the interests of your home country for many, many years, without relying on the diplomatic cover and subjecting to the daily risk yourself and your relatives unaware of who you are and who you are working for,” Putin said.

“It is not my task to assess their work, it is up to specialists, their bosses, and the end consumers of the information of this kind, the supreme commander-in-chief – the Russian President,” the prime minister said.

Source: Interfax-AVN

The song is from the movie Sword and the Shield, one of the greatest Soviet spy movies — from an era when such films were entirely different from today’s Salt and Jason Bourne movies.