The FBI have arrested and charged 10 people who allegedly spied for Russia in the United States.
Alleged Russian spies during court session on Monday
The spy ring which was the largest of such activity since the end of the communist rule in Russia, reminded people of Cold War era films and was cracked after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intercepted messages from the SVR, Russia’s Foreign intelligence service, to the alleged spies.
The news came a day after the United States President, Barack Obama had praised, Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev at the White House as a “reliable and solid partner”.
According to the FBI, the alleged Russian spies were linked to the SVR, and were sent to the U.S. several years ago to become like ordinary Americans, so that no one can have any suspicions while they gather information.
The alleged spies were also said to be brought into the U.S. with false names and some even lived as married couples. It is alleged that there may have been more spies which the FBI could not get information about.
According to one alleged information interception by the FBI it wrote “You were sent to USA for a long term service trip. Your education, your bank accounts, car, house, etc, all these serve one goal fulfill your main mission, ie, to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US and send intels (intelligence reports) to C [Centre]”.
The FBI has not released information on how successful the alleged spies were in gathering information but it has been reported that some of the alleged spies were in the United States since the early 90’s.
It has been reported that the arrests were made in New York, Boston, New Jersey and in Arlington, Virginia, near the Pentagon and CIA headquarters.
According a justice official there was one more spy which the FBI were still looking for.
All ten spies were charged with “conspiracy to act as unlawful agents of a foreign government” and face a prison sentence of up to five years, but other charges may also be added to the alleged spies including money laundering.
According to a justice department official, the alleged spies were caught after years of investigation.
“The FBI has conducted a multi-year investigation of a network of United States-based agents of the foreign intelligence organ of the Russian Federation (SVR)” according to the testimony of Amit Kachhia-Patel, an FBI agent who investigated two of the accused.
Some of the alleged intercepted messages, according to court documents had given missions to the suspected spies to gather information on various areas including nuclear weapons, White House rumors, US politics, CIA leadership turnover, US arms control positions and others.
The alleged spies were reported to have used various tactics to gather and pass over information to other alleged spies such as using invisible ink. Some of the couples were even said to have children living a comfortable life but their mission was to befriend people with high rank in various places to gather information.
On Monday, Five of the alleged spies Richard Murphy and Cynthia Murphy who were a married couple, Vicky Pelaez, Juan Lazaro and Anna Chapman appeared in a Manhattan federal court where they were ordered to remain in custody (prison) until a preliminary hearing on 27 July.
Three of the suspects, Mikhail Semenko and couple Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills appeared at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia while another couple known as Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley appeared in a Boston, Massachusetts federal court.
Russian officials have said that the information gathered on the alleged spies are contradictory.
Igor Lyakin-Frolov, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman told the AFP News Agency that they were “studying the information” and that there were “a lot of contradictions”.
