Spanish 'double agent' arrested

Spain has announced the arrest of a double agent who is suspected of selling secrets to a foreign country for more than two years.

The head of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), Alberto Saiz, told reporters that the agent had been arrested on Monday.

The agent, named Roberto Florez Garcia, has served 12 years in the CNI.

Mr Saiz refused to say who benefited from the intelligence, but Spanish media speculates it was Russia.

At an extraordinary press conference, Mr Saiz revealed that the suspected double agent had been arrested in Tenerife, saying that this was a "singular" case in the history of the Spanish secret services.

Mr Saiz said that Mr Garcia had sold classified information from December 2001 to February 2004, but that at no moment had the security of either Spain, the European Union or Nato been endangered by the security breach.

The head of the CNI refused to reveal which country had been sold classified information, but Cadena Ser radio reports, quoting secret service sources, that it was Russia.

Russian denial

The Russian embassy in Madrid denied any links with Mr Garcia, Spanish state-run press agency Efe said.

Russia's relations with the West have become increasingly strained in the last year.

In particular, Moscow's relations with Britain have deteriorated lately, following the assassination in London of former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko, a severe critic of President Vladimir Putin.

Britain blames the assassination on Russia's secret service, the FSB, and has demanded the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, a former FSB agent, whom London suspects of being involved in the poisoning of Mr Litvinenko.

Following Moscow's refusal to extradite Mr Lugovoi, Britain announced the expulsion of four Russian diplomats, which was followed by a similar move by Russia.