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Zhirinovsky Backpedals on Stepashin Charge

Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky on Tuesday tried to wriggle out of comments that counterintelligence chief Sergei Stepashin was "an agent of Mossad" but a Stepashin aide said his boss was pressing ahead with a law suit.


A statement issued by Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party said the party was "a true friend and helper" of the Federal Counterintelligence Service or FSK, the successor to the KGB which Stepashin heads. The statement said Friday's "discussion" between Zhirinovsky and Stepashin in the Duma was "devoted only to one theme: how to improve the work of the FSK".


Zhirinovsky repeatedly heckled Stepashin from the floor of the Duma Friday, as the security chief was presenting a new law on the counterintelligence services. He called Stepashin an agent of the Israeli secret service and said his organization was a "sub-branch of the CIA."

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