Putin pledges bright future to former spies

FOROS, Ukraine —  Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he had met with Russian spies swapped in an exchange with the United States earlier this month, and promised them a bright future in Russia.

“I have no doubts they will have interesting, bright lives,” Putin, a former KGB agent, told reporters during a working visit to Ukraine.

Ten people pleaded guilty this month to being agents for Russia while living undercover in the United States in one of the biggest spy scandals since the Cold War.

They were deported to Russia, which in turn agreed to release four people imprisoned for suspected contact with Western intelligence agencies.

Putin, who served as a KGB agent in West Germany during the Soviet era, did not say where he met the spies but said they sang together Soviet songs and he told them he admired what they did.

“As far as those people are concerned – every one of them had a tough life,” said Putin.

“First (problem) was to master foreign language as your own. Think and speak it and do what you are told to do for the interest of your motherland for many years without counting on diplomatic immunity,” he added.