LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MP Mike Hancock has rejected charges that his 24-year-old House of Commons researcher, who was arrested on the orders of the MI5 intelligence service, is a Russian spy, and has vowed to back her in any court battle to stop her deportation.
Katia Zatuliveter has worked for Mr Hancock, who has sat on the House of Commons defence select committee since 2008, and has accompanied him to meetings of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Mr Hancock says he has never seen confidential security papers.
“I have no reason to believe she did anything but act honourably during the time she was working for me. She is determined to fight her corner and she genuinely believes, and I back her 100 per cent, that she has nothing to hide and has done nothing wrong,” said Mr Hancock, who represents Portsmouth South.
Like all other staff working in the House of Commons, Ms Zatuliveter, who first worked as an intern there before being employed by Mr Hancock, was vetted by the security services before she took her post.
However, she was stopped and interviewed by police over the summer as she returned from a trip abroad. Since then, she has been interviewed four or five times.
Russia is understood to have increased the number of low-level agents in the UK in recent years as it seeks information on defence and technology.
