© Hannah McKay / Reuters / FilePolice officers arrive in the area around The Mill public house, which had been visited by Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury, UK, on April 4, 2018.
"[Former Russian double agent Sergei] Skripal most definitely wasn't a victim of any kind of operation or attack from the Russian side," said Koecher, who was a Soviet mole who successfully penetrated the CIA. He went on to say that "as far as Russia is concerned, and I honestly believe it, they had absolutely no interest in Skripal at all," adding that the mere fact that Moscow had previously agreed to swap him for Russian agents was evidence of that.
Attacking the former agent after he was swapped would "totally destroy Russian credibility as far as [spy] exchanges are concerned," said the former Czech spy. He then explained that a spy swap is almost the "only way" to get agents with no diplomatic cover back in the event that they are caught or arrested. The Russian authorities would never put this mechanism in any kind of danger "because they certainly have to get their people back if they get into trouble."
The whole Salisbury incident in which Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned looks more like a false flag attack, Koecher told Shevardnadze. The Skripals might just have become a "good opportunity" for "some kind of scenario of anti-Russian operations," he said. "Maybe, it was just made up to have some kind of reason to escalate the anti-Russian operations and sanctions in public," he suggested.
The UK security services are apparently hiding the former Russian double agent and his daughter "as much as they can," Koecher said, adding that they would probably never let the two meet with Russian officials because London apparently fears that they could disclose facts which it does not want to become available to the public.
"The whole thing is so suspicious, you know, you cannot know what he [Sergei Skripal] is going to say," Koecher said. "So even if he agrees to say what they [the British intelligence] tell him to say, he might change his mind when he is speaking on camera," the former spy added.
Partial transcript of Karel Koecher's appearance on Sophie & Co:
SS:So do you think Sergei Skripal's case is something like that? A double agent is paying for what he did? And the Russian intelligence officials said that he was exchanged and sent off to the United Kingdom because he was no more of any use to Russia. So then it wasn't the Russians who tried to get him?
KK: Well, certainly, if he was exchanged that was it. As far as Russia is concerned, and I honestly believe it, they had absolutely no interest in Skripal at all. And furthermore, there is a very important point I would like to make. Russian intelligence certainly uses illegal agents, with no cover. They use agents that have no diplomatic cover and they are certainly exposed to great dangers, and when they are caught or arrested, the only way to get them back home is to have them exchanged. So there is no way that the Russian side would endanger this kind of exchange business. So Skripal most definitely wasn't a victim of any kind of operation or attack from the Russian side, because that would totally destroy Russian credibility as far as exchanges are concerned, and they are dependent on it, because they certainly have to get their people back if they get into trouble.
SS:So the Russians are now saying that the British intelligence is hiding Skripal from everyone. Do you think that could be the case?
KK: Well, they certainly are hiding them. The most natural thing would be at least for his daughter who seems to be in good shape, to appear at press conference or to talk to journalists. They certainly are hiding the two of them as much as they can.
SS:So like you've said Skripal was of no real value to the Russian intelligence. Why do you thing that the British are so adamant at blaming the Russians if their case is so thin?
KK: Well, there is certainly some kind of scenario of anti-Russian operations, and Skripal just became a good opportunity. I really don't believe that Skripal was attacked; I think there was maybe an accident. Or maybe there was nothing at all, maybe it was just made up to have some kind of reason to escalate the anti-Russian operations and sanctions in public. I really don't believe that anybody from the Russian side would try to cause him harm.
SS:Do you think that the British will ever allow the Russians to meet the Skripals?
KK: I don't think so.
SS:Why?
KK: Well, because the whole thing is so suspicious, you know, you cannot know what he is going to say. And maybe Skripal himself would not be willing to do what they order him to do. He is obviously a traitor, not a very reliable person, not a moral person. So even if he agrees to say what they tell him to say he might change his mind when he is speaking on camera. I don't think they would ever allow him to meet with the Russians.
SS:Alright, thank you very much for this really interesting insight into the world of a top spy, Mr. Koecher. We were talking to Karel Koecher, former Czechoslovak spy, the mole who successfully penetrated the CIA during the Cold War, discussing the role intelligence agents play in global politics.
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