Russian TV shows alleged spy film

Russian state television has shown film of what it says is a Russian citizen negotiating to sell military secrets to American embassy officials.

The footage, allegedly filmed in a Moscow restaurant, was shown on prime time news as the Russian government confirmed that it had ordered four American diplomats to leave the country within ten days.

Confirmation of the expulsions is the latest development in what correspondents describe as the worst tit-for-tat spy scandal since the end of the Cold War.

America last week ordered fifty Russian envoys to leave by the middle of the year over alleged links with a former FBI agent charged with spying for Russia. The American State Department has described the reciprocal expulsion of American diplomats as unwarranted.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service