Russia calls spy defector's tales "treachery"

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Revelations by a former top Russian spy who defected to the United States in 2000 amount to "self-publicity based on treachery", Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR) said on Monday.

Sergei Tretyakov, 51, a deputy head of intelligence at Russia's U.N. mission for five years, defected with his wife and daughter in 2000 saying he lost faith in post-Soviet Russia.

One of the most senior Russian agents to defect, he was resettled at an undisclosed location and has now published a book telling his story for the first time.

"We leave on Tretyakov's conscience the so-called revelations made in the book," the SVR said in a statement.