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Russian spies had whistleblower Edward Snowden in their sights SIX YEARS before he exposed US secrets, reports the Sunday People.

Moscow believed the cyber wizard working for the CIA in Geneva was ripe for defection in 2007 and opened a file on him, says a KGB defector.

But secret agents did not swoop until last year when Snowden, 30, fled to Hong Kong with 1.7 million top secret documents which he leaked to the media.

Ex-KGB Major Boris Karpichkov said spies from Russia’s SVR intelligence service posing as ­diplomats tricked Snowden into ­seeking asylum in Russia.

And when the turncoat went there the information was leaked to ­provoke the US into cancelling his passport , so restricting his movements, said Karpichkov.

He believes the Kremlin will keep the ex-US intelligence ­official another three years – until he has no more information to give.

Kapichkov revealed that the SVR had a recruitment operational dossier on Snowden, who had diplomatic cover to maintain the CIA’s computer network security in the Swiss city.

But they did not approach him until he went to Hong Kong, when agents persuaded him President Putin’s Russia was the best place for him to seek asylum in a nation of his choice.

Kapichkov said, according to ­security sources: “It was a trick and he fell for it .

"Now the Russians are extracting all the intelligence he possesses.”

Snowden caused a nightmare for Western espionage chiefs by revealing how US spy agencies harvested data on international phone calls and emails and even snooped on foreign leaders.

But Karpichkov says his old spymasters are not interested in that.

They want to know exactly how America and Britain encrypt and ­decrypt secret information.

“Codebreakers are the top targets of every secret service,” he said.

Karpichkov, 55, fled Moscow on a false passport in 1998 after spying on his native Latvia for the KGB and its successor, the FSB.

He fell out with FSB bosses when he wanted to retire.

He and his family have been granted asylum in Britain because Karpichkov claims he would be killed if he returned home.

But he said he is still in contact with secret service cronies in Moscow now close to the Snowden case.

They told him the Russians plan to keep the American in Moscow for another three years.

Karpichkov said: “He lives in a block of flats in Moscow’s ­suburbs controlled by the FSB.

"His flat is heavily alarmed to stop anything happening to him. He meets the FSB twice a week over plenty of food and drink.”

The Major said the first Russian words Snowden learned was the slang for “glass of vodka” and “hangover”.

The former spy added: “He will stay in Russia until they have got everything they want from him.

“They need the time to extract all the classified intelligence he possesses about the operational methods and tactics of Western security agencies.

(Image: Reuters)

“He wasn’t a Russian spy before he went to Moscow . But death threats have frightened him.

"These threats were a carefully planned operation by the Russian security services to make Snowden stay in Russia.

“Snowden cannot leave Moscow even if he wanted as the Americans have cancelled his passport.”

He was admitted to the country on a 12-month renewable visa.

But Karpichkov said Snowden’s flight to Moscow was deliberately leaked by the Russians to provoke the Americans into just such an action.

Last week the Sunday People ­revealed how Snowden has given so much away about how our GCHQ eavesdroppers gather information on Islamist killers that officials have been forced to set up new procedures.

This week it has emerged that GCHQ staff named by Snowden have made plans to rush their partners and kids to safety should they become targets for terrorists.

A senior Whitehall source told us: “Parts of the radar have gone dark and that is very worrying. Snowden has committed the worst kind of treachery.”

Karpichkov agreed.

He said: “There is no doubt he has put Britain and America in grave danger.”