Annexure B

By the Publisher

Readers of this book may be bemused by the press coverage it has received since publication and they are entitled therefore to have an account of the actual circumstances surrounding it. Having unsuccessfully attempted to prevent distribution of the book in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, the British government then, as its second line of defense, sought to discredit it by secretly briefing national press and claiming that its publication was an undercover operation by 'the KGB' as revenge for the earlier British publication of The Mitrohkin Archive - based on disclosures by a Russian defector of secret documents smuggled out by him to the West. It was alleged that certain parts of the book had been written, not by the author Richard Tomlinson, but by Russian intelligence agents for the sole purpose of embarrassing Britain 's secret service. Although the KGB no longer exists- its successor in the post-Soviet Union is the FSB - the name is still better known in the West and understandably perhaps it was 'the KGB' which was therefore widely quoted as the source of 'the sting' on Britain's MI6. It made better headlines, and made the counter-operation launched against the book more credible to the average newspaper reader. Remembering the Cold War they would know that the KGB employed 'black propaganda' and therefore they would easily believe that the book was just another example of the Russians up to their old tricks again.

The truth, in contrast, is that the Russian intelligence service has played no part whatsoever in any part of the book's publication, in dealings with the author, or have now or at anytime had any connections whatsoever with the publishers or any associate of the publishers. Although the author has, of course, his own reasons for seeking publication, for the publishers it is simply a commercial undertaking - no more and no less.

Furthermore, no part of the book has been inserted by or 'doctored' by Russian intelligence. Apart from conventional editing of the kind which occurs in the publication of any author's manuscript - in this case by a US journalist living in Washington - the story is as written by Richard Tomlinson - as he has himself confirmed: 'The Russian version was printed as it was supplied by me with maybe 3% changes just to improve reading in terms of grammar. The final version was approved by me'. The same applies to the later British edition of the book - the content of which is as the original Russian.

Tomlinson has not withdrawn any of his allegations made in this book. He has confirmed that there is no direct evidence linking MI6 with the death of Princess Diana - only that he did recognise the driver of her car, Henri Paul, as an MI6 informer and that the circumstances bore a similarity to plans suggested within MI6 for the possible assassination of the Serbian presidentMilosevic; he also confirms that Nelson Madela has been in contact with MI6 for years but concedes that Nelson Mandela may not have been aware that he was dealing with MI6 in his contacts with their agents over the years. Nothing in this book stated otherwise.

However, these are not the reasons why the British Government were so determined to prevent publication. British objections to publication can be summarised by an extract from the affidavit given to the High Court by the Head of Security and Counter Intelligence for British Intelligence (SIS), on January 23 2001, in arguing against the lifting of a long-standing injunction against any publication by Richard Tomlinson. The affidavit stated that:

'Tomlinson's book contains information which, if it comes to the knowledge of foreign governments and foreign intelligence and security services, would cause damage to national security, by revealing SIS methods and operations and endangering the security of members of staff and agents. Information in his book could help identify agents whose well-being and safety would be endangered if they were clearly identified as agents of SIS. Some of the operations described involve assistance from foreign liaison services. Disclosure of such operations would call into question the Service's ability to protect those who co-operate with them and the information they provide. Such disclosures therefore risk causing serious and long term damage to the Service by discouraging co-operation from existing and prospective agents and liaison contacts. The book is also likely to give details about premises and facilities used by the Service. Though the locations of some SIS premises are in the public domain, other details of SIS premises and facilities remain secret. The detailed information in the book would be of value to terrorist organisations wishing to target these premises/facilities and members of the Service using them. The rocket attack on the Service's headquarters in September 2000 confirms the seriousness of this risk'.

The affidavit went on to allege that the publisher, Kirill Chashin, was 'acting on behalf of a Russian intelligence agency' and that MI6 had assessed 'the publication project to be under their control'. It went on to claim that the publishing company 'has no public record of publishing or any other activity'.

The last is most certainly true. Narodny Variant Publishers had not, at the time of publication, published any other book and that this is its first venture in this field. It is also true that the company was earlier dormant and that the publisher, Kirill VladislavovichChashin, used a variety of other names during the negotiations which led up to publication and that Richard Tomlinson knows him as SergeKorovin, others as Stepan Ustinov, Mikhail Arsenov and Valentine K Pirogov. The use of aliases was simply intended to confuse MI6 in his travels abroad. He guessed rightly that he would come under surveillance by British intelligence; he did not intend to make that easy for them - though he has admitted to being flattered to learn that the British, in the same MI6 affidavit quoted above, classed his tactics as the 'use of professional intelligence methods including anti- surveillance techniques'.

The facts are these: Kirill Vladislavovich Chashin was born in Moscow in May 1969 and educated at Moscow Aviation Institute, where his father was a lecturer; his younger brother Serge is now known as Father Theoktist and is a Russian Orthodox monk, working in Siberia . After leaving the Institute in 1994 Kirill Chashin worked for a US technology company and was then employed in a number of business and government organisations -none of them involved in intelligence work. He and an associate set up Narodny Variant for the sole purpose of raising funds intended to assist Serbian resistance in the event of a land invasion by Nato forces during the Kosovo crisis; in the event the conflict ended with the coffers still empty and the company left with no purpose whatsoever - which was why it then became dormant.

Kirill Chashin became interested in the present book when he read press reports about the author having published names of MI6 agents on the Internet. Having browsed the site he e-mailed the contact address and for the first time found himself in correspondence with Richard Tomlinson. It was then that the idea of publishing the book in Russia occurred to him, though the author was at that stage not convinced that it would be in his interests to do so.

The first face-to-face meeting took place in Constanz in southern Germany on July 24, 1999, where Richard Tomlinson then had a small apartment. They met at a hotel opposite the train station. It was clear that Tomlinson was not satisfied that 'SergeKorovin' - the name used in negotiations by Kirill Chashin - was the partner he wanted and that he would need further reassurance before committing himself in any way.

On January 11, 2000, in Munich , the two men met again but without making any further progress. Two months later, on March 8, 2000, another meeting took place at Rimini in Italy , with a British journalist present. He was Nick Fielding of The Sunday Times, whom Kirill Chashin understood to be a trusted friend of the author - in an earlier e-mail he had said that Fielding was advising him on publication of his book. Richard Tomlinson would later say that the idea of publishing his story came from Nick Fielding, after he had complained to the journalist about the harassment he had been suffering. Fielding suggested that by publishing his book the British authorities would have no choice but to leave him alone.

At the Rimini meeting all three agreed in principle that Chashin's company would publish the book, provided that a literary agent acting for Tomlinson approved the contract. Fielding proposed his own London agent, Robert Kirby of Peters, Fraser and Dunlop. In the event Kirby declined to be involved, but passed on to Fielding the name of a possible agent for the project in Moscow .

On May 5, 2000, two months after their meeting in Rimini, Fielding e-mailed Kirill Chashin from The Sunday Times, suggesting that he contact Ludmilla Sushkova 'who works for the Andrew Nurnberg agency'. He did not know her telephone number, but gave her e-mail address, adding that his London agent had already contacted her. 'Hopefully this will get things moving', he said.