"He was sometimes there, he was smiling," said Tiny Kox, a Dutch politician, speaking of a Russian spy he used to see around in the corridors of the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg, France.
"He was no James Bond," Kox added, referring to a British spy-movie icon.
"He was there, but not saying or doing anything. I'm not sure if that's part of the behaviour of spies," Kox said.
"I never speak with secretaries but they always accompany their delegations," he added.
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.