On March 26, 2015 Vladimir Putin took part in a Federal Security Service board meeting.
There Putin spoke about counter espionage efforts in Russia.
Note: Putin is definitely in a position to know. Under Article 32 of the Federal Constitutional Law On the Government of the Russian Federation,the FSB head answers directly to the RF president and the FSB director is the RF president’s appointment, though he is a member of the RF government which is headed by the Chairman of Government; he also, ex officio, is a permanent member of the Security Council of Russia presided over by the president and chairman of the National Anti-terrorism Committee of Russia.
Putin also thanked participants for their help routing out hundreds of foreign spies:
“Counter-intelligence agencies worked efficiently and steadily last year. Their special operations resulted in the suspension of activity of 52 officers and 290 agents of foreign special services.
Today it is especially important to improve the protection of data that pertains to national secrets and to prevent information leaks regarding the development of our military organization, mobilization plans and defense and industrial technologies.
Western special services continue their attempts at using public, non-governmental and politicized organizations to pursue their own objectives, primarily to discredit the authorities and destabilize the internal situation in Russia. They are already planning their actions for the upcoming election campaigns of 2016-2018.
As I have said on numerous occasions, and will repeat again: we are ready for dialogue with the opposition, we will continue our partnership with the civic society in the broadest sense of the word. We always listen to constructive criticism of the authorities’ actions or the lack of such actions at any level.
Such dialogue and partnership are always useful, they are vital for any country, including ours. However, it is pointless entering into a discussion with those who are operating on orders from the outside in the interests of some other country rather than their own.
Therefore, we will continue paying attention to non-governmental organizations that have foreign funding sources; we will compare their stated goals with their actual activities and terminate any violations…”
Source: Kremlin
Note: The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) (Russian: Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ); Federal’naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the principal security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency to the USSR‘s Committee of State Security (KGB). Its main responsibilities are within the country and include counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and surveillance as well as investigating some other types of grave crimes and federal law violations.
See related video: A spy uncovered
Russia Expels German Diplomat: Cold War tensions return as espionage allegations fly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW8tT_9oul4