Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Globe Court Report: Russian Rewrite

"Russian officer convicted of betraying spies - Boston.com

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And the article that is there is a total rewrite?

"Ex-officer convicted of betraying Russian spy ring" June 27, 2011|Globe Staff

A former senior Russian intelligence officer was convicted in absentia Monday of betraying a ring of 10 Russian spies in the United States.

The Moscow District Military Court found Col. Alexander Poteyev guilty of high treason and desertion and sentenced him to 25 years in prison after a trial that was closed to the public. Russian news agencies cited the court’s verdict as saying that Poteyev had fled to the United States shortly before U.S. authorities announced the spy bust last summer, leaving his wife behind.

Anna Chapman and her fellow deep-cover agents had testified during the trial that only Poteyev could have provided the information that led to their arrest last year, according to the excerpts of the verdict carried by Russian newswires. They were deported in exchange for four suspected agents who had been imprisoned in Russia. It was the biggest spy swap since the Cold War....

The court also stripped Poteyev of his rank and state medals.
 
And the printed paragraph that got the cut?

The court said Poteyev got word that the agents were being rounded up in the United States and was in such a hurry to leave Russia that he rushed out of a meeting at intelligence headquarters, the Interfax news agency reported. It said Poteyev fled to Belarus, crossed the border into Ukraine and then moved west to Germnay and, finally, on to the United States using a passport in another person's name.  

Now why would the Globe want to fiddle with all that? 

 --more--"   

Related: Spy Swap

Slow Saturday Special: Stupid Spy Stories

So it was all a staged and scripted production for public consumption?

Also see: Globe Missed Russian Flight

You know what they say about censorship: once is a mistake, twice is a pattern.