MP’S EX-Mistress is ‘Best Russian spy in 30 years’

THE former mistress of an MP is the most successful Russian spy in the past 30 years, it was sensationally claimed yesterday. Former KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky said Katia Zatuliveter, 26, used her four-year relationship with Lib Dem Mike Hancock to pass on British military secrets to the Kremlin. He said she had caused enormous damage to Britain and would be regarded as a heroine by Russia. Ms Zatuliveter, who denies being a spy, was yesterday back at a Special Immigration Appeals Commission hearing in London, fighting a deportation order. The MI5 case against her is being heard in secret, with a security-vetted lawyer appointed to represent her. Mr Gordievsky, 73, who defected to Britain in 1985 with the help of MI6, added: “For four years she has been making the copies of military documents and bringing them to the embassy. Basically, she made Great Britain disarmed against Russia. “It is a big crime, which is impossible to prove legally. I believe she will be sent out of Britain.” He claimed the slender blonde had caused far more damage to the UK than spy Anna Chapman had managed against America. He added: “Katia Zatuliveter worked flat out and was getting results. She is a heroine, unlike Chapman, who is just some spoilt girl. Zatuliveter is guilty, there is no doubt about that.” Asked by a Russian radio station why she was not being charged with spying, Mr Gordievsky replied: “It is simple – there is no proof. This is why they want to punish her in this way, and punish very softly.” As well as affairs with Mr Hancock and Nato chief “Y”, Miss Zatuliveter had an affair with “a dishy Dutch diplomat” in 2004 and a senior UN official. Mr Hancock insists that, despite serving on the Defence Select Committee, he never let his lover and parliamentary aide see any classified or sensitive papers.