Cooperation between Russian and U.S. intelligence services is inadequate and not efficient enough, a veteran of Russian special services has said.

"It seems to me that there is no interaction but, on the contrary, disagreements are manifesting themselves," Mikhail Lyubimov told Interfax on Tuesday in comments on the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The CIA's success in the USSR was overestimated, Lyubimov said.

"The CIA's first success was also in Europe against communists, whom they purged from the French and Italian governments. As regards work against the USSR, the CIA used official information very skillfully, but the number of their agents was far from enough," he said.

The opinion that the CIA actively influenced internal political processes in the USSR was also exaggerated, Lyubimov said. "The theory that we owe to the CIA the advent of perestroika is definitely absolute nonsense," he said.

Lyubimov admitted, however, that, following the Soviet Union's breakup, the CIA significantly stepped up its activities in the former Soviet territory. "I have the impression that they are very skillfully manipulating the governments of Georgia and Ukraine, not to mention the Baltic States," he said.

Lyubimov also commented on a remark by John Michael McConnell, Director of the National Intelligence of the U.S., who expressed concerns about the recent intensification of China's and Russia's intelligence gathering activities in the U.S.

"I think this is a routine and ritual statement. As far as I remember, when it comes to budget funding in the U.S., statements are always made that the Russians are becoming more active, but such statements are backed by nothing," Lyubimov said.