# Embassy guard who tried to spy for Russia sentenced itoday

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embassy-guard-who-tried-to-spy-for-russia-sentenced-itoday/980032>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 19, 2023, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embassy-guard-who-tried-to-spy-for-russia-sentenced-itoday/980032 "2023-02-19T12:37:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embassy-guard-who-tried-to-spy-for-russia-sentenced-itoday/980032/1 "2023-02-19T12:37:23Z")

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David Smith, who worked security at the British Embassy in Berlin [was sentenced today for his attempts to sell information to the Russians.](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64669885.amp)

A very interesting story. I’m sure it will be a tv movie before too long.

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**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embassy-guard-who-tried-to-spy-for-russia-sentenced-itoday/980032/2 "2023-02-19T14:11:41Z")

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Thinking about it-was this big news in the UK? In America, I don’t know that we heard much about it.

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**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embassy-guard-who-tried-to-spy-for-russia-sentenced-itoday/980032/3 "2023-02-19T20:16:43Z")

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It was pretty big news.

> **[Russia spy sentencing live: British embassy guard David Smith sentenced to 13...](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-64669721)**
>
> David Smith, 58, was caught in a sting operation by fake Russian agents after collecting secret information.

Put it this way - these days I find the news very hard to cope with, but nevertheless I was well aware of it.

j

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embassy-guard-who-tried-to-spy-for-russia-sentenced-itoday/980032/4 "2023-02-20T11:58:29Z")

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> [@Love\_Rhombus](#):
>
> A very interesting story. I’m sure it will be a tv movie before too long.

No doubt somebody will give it a go, but it’ll take a very good writer to make it particularly watchable. We’re not talking high-octane masterspy excitements - just someone naively self-deluding and easily caught.

Oddly enough one of our archive channels was just re-running a 1960s film about a similar, but rather more serious case:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XrlPO841SE4/maxresdefault.jpg "Ring of Spies (1964) Original Trailer [FHD]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrlPO841SE4)