Father of ‘spy’ ran firm in Kenya

The father of a Russian arrested in the United States on espionage allegations ran an international tour firm in Nairobi.

Russian media reported that Mr Vasily Kuschenko ran a tour firm known as 4vlast during his tour of duty at the Russian embassy as recently as 2006.

A Russian newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, said the firm specialised in skydiving adventures. 4vlast is also the name of a group of Russian journalists and public relations specialists Mr Kuschenko worked with whose goal was to shape politics through the power of the press.

According to the paper, Mr Kuschenko may have been put in charge of the tour firm’s operations in Kenya because of his extensive knowledge of the country.

Were aware

Detectives from the British intelligence agency, MI5, are trying to establish whether Mr Kuschenko recruited his daughter, Anna Chapman into espionage.

We could not immediately establish what position Mr Kuschenko held at the Russian embassy or whether he acted as an undercover agent.

We could also not establish whether Kenyan authorities were aware of his involvement in the tourism industry as top Foreign Affairs ministry officials could not be reached.

However, a retired senior diplomat told the Nation it was possible Mr Kuschenko could have spied on Kenya.

“Some countries post officers to serve as first, second or third secretaries in other countries who in reality, are spies. It is only the ambassador who is vetted and cleared by the host country,” he said.

The former diplomat said it would have been very difficult for Kenya to take action against Mr Kuschenko if it had discovered that he was spying because he enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

“The best a country can do is to declare such officers persona non grata and have them kicked out, but at the risk of their country retaliating,” he said.