A former Russian top spy says his agents helped the Russian government steal nearly $ 500-million from the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Sergei Tretyakov, who defected to the United States in 2000 as a double agent, says he oversaw an operation that helped Saddam's regime manipulate the price of Iraqi oil sold under the program - and allow Russia to skim profits.