Putin toasts spies' return to power

President Putin could have held a discreet secret policemen's ball to honour Russia's security services, given the suspicion heaped on their agents over the killing of Alexander Litvinenko. But far from a cloak-and-dagger affair, Mr Putin flaunted the restoration of their power before the nation at a lavish Kremlin party.

Mr Putin, a former KGB spy, heaped praise on the secret services as state television broadcast pictures of champagne flowing and an orchestra playing classical music in a hall packed with spy chiefs and politicians.

The event on Wednesday evening marked the annual Security Service Workers' Day, better known as Chekist Day. The Cheka, forerunner of the KGB, was founded on December 20, 1917, by Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of the feared secret police. "There are many glorious pages, bright examples of true heroism and courage in the history of national state security organisations," Mr Putin told the gathering.

He reserved his "very warmest words of gratitude" for KGB veterans whose efforts, he said, had laid the foundations for Russia's modern secret services. "This profession employs those who love our Motherland and who are selflessly devoted to their people. And it is not simply qualifications but also a high degree of civic consciousness and courage that act as guidelines for important and professional activities in this field," Mr Putin said.

The murder of Mr Litvinenko in London brought allegations that the FSB was reviving darker KGB traditions of assassination, a charge denied by Moscow.

Lenin once described the Cheka as a "devastating weapon against countless conspiracies and countless attempts against Soviet power by people who are infinitely stronger than us".

Mr Putin employed similar terms to praise the FSB, the internal security agency, and the foreign intelligence service. The KGB was split into two after the failed coup in 1991 that triggered the collapse of the Soviet state.

"Your profession is directly connected with protecting the national interests and the sovereignty of the Russian State. And those who are ready to execute the most difficult and dangerous tasks at the first order work in the security services," Mr Putin said.

"The struggle against the activities of foreign intelligence services remains as topical as before. Today these organisations are increasingly interested in secret economic information."

The secret services, widely reviled after the Soviet collapse, have had their influence restored under Mr Putin, who has promoted former KGB officers to top posts in the Kremlin. State television polishes their image by broadcasting romantic soaps showing Russian agents in daring adventures.

Dmitri Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister, and Sergei Ivanov, Defence Minister, both tipped as possible successors to Mr Putin, attended the Kremlin reception. Mr Ivanov is a former senior KGB officer.

Historians still argue about how many people were killed by the Soviet secret service during Joseph Stalin's rule. Millions were executed or sent to perish in labour camps run by the secret police.

None of this history was mentioned at Wednesday's party. Instead, Mr Putin praised the work of his "dear comrades" in protecting the interests and freedoms of Russian citizens.

Secret history

Triumphs

Kim Philby Recruited to KGB while at Cambridge in the 1930s. Was an MI5 agent in Britain, rising to be liaison in Washington. Passed information to the Soviet Union until the 1960s

Klaus Fuchs German physicist fled to Britain in 1933. Worked on British and US atomic bomb projects. Secretly a communist, passed information to the Soviet Union on how to build a hydrogen bomb

Assassination of Trotsky Ramon Mercader, son of a female Spanish KGB loyalist, tracked Trotsky down in Mexico in 1940 and killed him with an ice pick

Disasters

Richard Sorge Hugely successful agent in Japan during Second World War, discovered exact date and time of German attack on Russia. Information was ignored by Stalin, who trusted Hitler

Oleg Gordievsky KGB agent who defected to Britain, smuggling documents out of the Russian embassy in London throughout the early 1980s