A former Soviet intelligence officer living in the U.S. claims that a high-ranking UN official who worked in the Oil for Food programme in Iraq was a Russian spy. According to the UK’s Times newspaper, Sergey Tretyakov made the claims in a book by a forme

In the book, Tretyakov claims former UN official Aleksandr Kramar diverted more than $US 500 million dollars into the pockets of Russian officials. He was in charge of setting the price for Iraqi oil as part of the programme.

In response to the claims made by Tretyakov in the book, the Russian foreign intelligence service has issued a statement.

“In October 2000 Sergey Tretyakov stayed with his family in the United States and made a written statement saying, that his stepping down will not harm the interests of the Russian Federation. Leaving on Tretyakov’s consciousness these so-called exposures he made in the book, we want to underline that in special services throughout the world, promotion based on betrayal has always been regarded as a disgusting act, while actual betrayal is punishable by law,” observed Sergey Ivanov from Russian Foreign Intelligence Sevice.