London: Tony Blair's former chief of staff says Russia was correct to accuse Britain of using a fake rock fitted with communications equipment hidden in a Moscow park to receive intelligence.

Jonathan Powell told a BBC television documentary Thursday that Russia had Britain "bang to rights" when it said the U.K. used the hidden transmitter in 2006 to receive intelligence from Russian agents.

Britain's government previously had refused to discuss the incident.

Powell said Russia had known about the technique for some time before it was exposed in a Russian state television broadcast that showed four British officials apparently collecting data from the fake rock.

Britain's Foreign Office, responsible for the overseas MI6 spy agency, declined to comment.

Tags: intelligence on russia, MI 6, UK fake rock, UK intelligence

• Also See