The Espionage Goes on

By Janice Castro

Viktor Oshchenko, a diplomat in the Russian Embassy in Paris, was a British double agent for years. Last month Moscow asked him to come home. Fearing the worst, he defected to London. MI-6 is now debriefing him at a safe house. He must know plenty: Moscow has since recalled at least a dozen of his fellow spies from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. Oshchenko specialized in stealing science and technology secrets. Says a senior British diplomat: "The Russians' need for everything is more desperate than ever because of the country's abysmal shape."