This sounds like the story of James Bond with learning difficulties; the spy that Facebooked me. The farcical capture and swap of spies who were about as benign as a fluffy bunny’s eyelashes just seems a little pathetic.
Their encoded messages delivered in invisible ink, short wave radio and cafe wi-fi sounds like the kind of thing that seven year old kids do to while away their childhood.
As for the types of information that they were sending, it’s all just a bit naff. Admittedly there is some indication that some of it could have included information on nuclear weapons, but to be fair I could probably find out more about the US’s nuclear arsenal with a couple of searches on Google than this band of spies managed to uncover.
The ring’s mission was to infiltrate policymaking circles in an attempt to gain favour for Russia. Despite the fact that there is little evidence to suggest that they were particularly successful in this, the biggest farce is that they were there in the first place.
The pathetic international oneupmanship that appears to be at the heart of espionage activities like this to sway favour for national interests is profoundly selfish and will only continue to have little impact and little gain. The worst thing is that the spy ring will be well looked after on their return to Moscow, at significant expense to the Russian people, who have little to show for the efforts undertaken on their behalf.
