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GRU retired officer Skripal convicted for spying for MI6

On August 9, 2006 A retired Russian Military intelligence colonel Sergei Skripal was convicted by a Moscow military court of passing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe.

Prosecutors said he had been cooperating with the British secret service MI6 since the 1990s. Russian officials said he was paid some $100,000 (£78,000) for the information.

Col Skripal, 55, began working for the British secret services while serving in the army in the 1990s, Russia's security service FSB said in a statement. He had been passing information classified as state secrets, the statement said.

"Skripal had received the secret information that he reported to the British services from former colleagues after leaving the military," the FSB said. "His actions caused serious damage to national defence and security."

The military court's spokesman, Yevgeny Komissarov, told the AFP news agency that MI6 had made payments to Col Skripal by transferring money to a bank account in Spain each time he gave information.

The meetings between Col Skripal and MI6 agents took place between 1995 and December 2004, when he was arrested, the spokesman said.

In July 2010 Skripal has been released as part of a spy exchange for the 10 Russian agents arrested in the United States as part of the Illegals Program. On his way from Russia Skripal with Igor Sutyagin chose to stay in the United Kingdom.