Moscow — President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russia thwarted more than 400 foreign spies in 2017 and has called on the country’s intelligence agency to act to block further foreign attempts to obtain political, economic and military information. Putin, who polls show should be comfortably re-elected on March 18, made the comments in a speech to employees of the FSB intelligence agency in Moscow, where he spoke of the need to step up Russia’s cyber defences and strengthen the security of confidential communications systems used by Russian officials. Putin once ran the FSB himself and his comments played into one of his core narratives — depicting Russia as a fortress besieged by hostile foreign powers and with him as its defender-in-chief. "In recent years, as you know very well, there has been an increase in foreign intelligence agency activity," he said. "They are working diligently on Russia, using the most modern methods, spy craft and technical espionage means. "During the...
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