Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AP
Espionage

Why does Russia want to dig up the ‘greatest spy of all time’ Richard Sorge from a Tokyo cemetery?

  • Moscow long denied knowledge of the World War II era agent tortured and hanged by the Japanese. Now it suddenly wants to rebury his ashes in the Kuril Islands
  • Its talk of reclaiming a hero could be a cover story; observers say it may be a disguised way of reinforcing Vladimir Putin’s territorial claims

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AP
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