10 people arrested in U.S. on "spying for Russia" charges

[rj1]

BBC News - Ten arrested in US on charges of spying for Russia

Holy Cold War Redux Batman!

Ten people have been arrested in the United States for allegedly spying for the Russian government, the US Department of Justice has said.

They have been charged with conspiracy to act as unlawful agents of a foreign government, a crime which carries up to five years in prison.

Eight of them were arrested on Sunday for allegedly carrying out "long-term, 'deep-cover' assignments" on US soil.

Two others were arrested for allegedly participating in the same programme.

An 11th suspect remained at large, the justice department said.

Nine have also been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Pseudonyms

In a statement, the justice department said the suspects had been arrested following an investigation lasting several years.

Five will appear later on Monday in a Manhattan federal court - a couple known as "Richard Murphy" and "Cynthia Murphy", who were arrested in Montclair, New Jersey; Vicky Pelaez and a man known as "Juan Lazaro," who were arrested in Yonkers, New York state; and Anna Chapman, who was arrested in Manhattan.

Another three - Mikhail Semenko and a couple known as "Michael Zottoli" and "Patricia Mills" - will appear in the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, after being arrested at their homes in Arlington.

The final two people - known as "Donald Howard Heathfield" and "Tracey Lee Ann Foley" - were arrested in Boston and will appear in a federal court in the city.

A suspect known as "Christopher R Metsos" remains at large.

[Mess]

11... Mestos has been captured in Cyprus. US news agencies don't seem to be so concerned about reporting this, though.

Thank the BBC for some honest coverage. Sure, they're still mad that the Russians caught a British agent in Moscow communicating through a rock. But hey, if it means that they'll spill details, then out with it...

BBC News - Russian 'spies' were no James Bonds

Russian 'spies' were no James Bonds

The funniest aspect of the careers of the 10 alleged Russian "agents" arrested in the US is how inept they were - and how apparently unsuccessful.

They have not even been charged with espionage, only with not registering as agents, or representatives, of a foreign government and with money laundering.

The most worrying aspect, for Western governments, is that the Russian intelligence agency should be engaged in this kind of endeavour, as if the US were still an enemy.

The old KGB clan, symbolised by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, still seems to exercise influence. It must have been fun for them, a reminder of the "good old days" perhaps, to nurture this network, though surely some smart people in Moscow must have begun to wonder when there would be some results.

But this does not compare with those Cold War "good old days", when agents such as Colonel Abel and Peter and Helen Kroger were also "illegals" living in the West and handing on nuclear secrets.

Indeed, if this is the best the Russians can come up with, it does not say much about their level of penetration of the US government. These supposed agents did not even dare to work for the US government itself, afraid that their cover stories would not stand up.

Some of them had been living incognito in the US since the 1990s and seem to have hardly done anything. In fact, several were settling in rather too comfortably.
Password blunder

In one case, the major issue for the couple concerned - "Richard and Cynthia Murphy", known as the "New Jersey Conspirators", was why they could not buy the house they were living in.

They pointed out correctly to "Moscow Centre" that the US was a society "that values home ownership" and that when in Rome "do as the Romans do".

It was a neat argument, but Moscow suspected that they were taking advantage. They hotly protested that they had not "deviated" from their mission.

Another couple, "Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley", the "Boston Conspirators", also seem to have been doing rather too well. Their accounting of $64,000 (£42,500) given to them reads like the expenses of a British MP - "meals and gifts $1,250"; "education $3,600"; "business (cover) $4,900" etc.

The fact that the FBI gained access to these encrypted messages shows how thoroughly compromised they were. Their e-mails must have been read, as the word "roumors" (sic) is used at one point and the details of the investigation show how incompetent they were.

The FBI was bugging and burgling them for years. In a clandestine raid on the home of "Richard and Cynthia Murphy", the FBI found the 27-letter password to a computer disc. This gave access to a programme in which a message could be stored in an image on a website and decoded at the other end.

It is sophisticated but it fell foul of the old failing, human weakness. Who can actually remember a 27-letter password? So they wrote it down.

It reminds one of the times when the British decoders at Bletchley during World War II were helped when lazy German operators did not change the settings on their Enigma machines.

Some of the other evidence shows how little these agents had in fact integrated into US society. They had to be given large bags of cash, in one case allegedly by a Russian diplomat at the UN.

And their achievements seem minimal. They were asked for quite high-level stuff - US tactics in advance of a visit by President Barack Obama in 2009, US nuclear weapons policy, US policy towards Iran.

"Donald Heathfield" of the Boston couple does seem to have talked to some well-connected Americans, but that is not hard to do, and claimed to have spoken to an expert on nuclear "bunker-busting" bombs.

But you do not know if this was an exaggeration - and reminiscent of the hapless non-agent Jim Wormold in Graham Greene's novel Our Man in Havana, who made up agents and information and passed off drawings of the vacuum cleaners he sold as secret weapons.

In one conversation, a couple is heard complaining that Moscow was demanding sources for their information. In fact, Moscow seemed desperate enough to ask in one message for "tidbits".

Diplomatically, this is damaging. It shows a lack of long-term trust among the Russians. The Americans have tried to minimise this and held off on the arrests until President Dmitry Medvedev left after his recent visit.

But it will leave a sour taste in President Obama's mouth, even though it is something he must know goes on.

Update: a reader points out that the US must be spying on Russia, too, a point I accept of course. Some British agents were caught communicating through an "electronic rock" in Moscow not long ago. But this concept of the long-term mole does seem very Cold War.

There is one diplomatic footnote which might be followed up by the British and Irish governments. They were angered recently by the use by Israelis of fake British and Irish passports in the killing of a Hamas official in Dubai.

These new documents indicate the Russians use the same ploy.

[email protected]

[hanswu25]

The female one is so beautiful.

NY suspect dubbed femme fatale of Russian spy case - Yahoo! News

[Tarek Morgen]

I almost freaked out a little bit after seeing the picture above. She looks pretty much exactly like my last ex (except that she was a little bit goth and I am pretty sure that she was no Russian spy).

[JAD_333]

Makes for interesting reading. Not your usual smart spies.

Criminal Complaints From the Justice Department

[bigross86]

She could squeeze me for "information" whenever she wanted...

[Tarek Morgen]

wan't there a case where a woman tried to get information by befriending a lot IDF members via Facebook recently?

[bigross86]

Didn't hear of that, to be honest. I did hear about the retard that posted his unit's mission on Facebook a couple months back.

[Tarek Morgen]

Google Translate

article by Spiegel (google translation sorry, but it should be enough to get the basic idea)

[gunnut]

Conspiracy theory suggests this is a "guerilla" marketing campaign for the latest Angelina Jolie spy movie...

[astralis]

she looks better than jolie, IMHO...

[highsea]

Yeah, she's got the "sweet and innocent" down pat. The tiara is a nice touch.

[crooks]

According to reports here Irish (and British) passports were used by the unit - this is unbelievable, first the Israelis, now the Russians, is there something especially valuble or useful about EU passports (Irish neutrality perhaps, or the good relations between Europe and the US)?

The Department of Foreign Affairs should be watching this very carefully indeed, I don't think anyone would have a problem with seeing a Russian diplomat expelled (which is what they did in the Israeli case).

[troung]

Russian spy ring suspect jumps bail in Cyprus

Christopher Metsos, the 11th member of an alleged Russian spy ring, fails to answer bail in Larnaka
Russian spy ring suspect jumps bail in Cyprus | World news | guardian.co.uk

* Helena Smith in Athens
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 June 2010 18.45 BST
* Article history

Larnaca police station Larnaca police station, where Christopher Metsos was to present himself daily in accordance with his bail conditions. Photograph: Andreas Lazarou/AFP/Getty Images

The Russian espionage drama intensfied tonight as the alleged paymaster in the "deep cover" spy ring failed to answer bail in Cyprus.

An arrest warrant was issued for Christopher Metsos, the 11th suspected member of the operation, after he failed to report to a police station in Larnaka, the Guardian has learned.

Metsos, 55, was arrested in Cyprus on Tuesday but, to the surprise of Cypriot police, was released on bail. Ten other accused are in custody in the US, after the FBI broke up the alleged ring on Monday.

"An arrest warrant has been issued and if found he will be arrested immediately," an officer at the police station in Larnaka told the Guardian. "He has broken his pledge to be here."

Metsos was first stopped at 9am yesterday at Larnaca airport by officers acting on an Interpol "red notice", moments before he was about to board a plane to Budapest.

Appearing before a district court judge, Metsos was told he could walk free, pending an extradition hearing within 30 days, if he posted €20,000 (£16,000) bail.

Metsos, who is thought to have been travelling on a Canadian passport, is believed to have returned immediately to his hotel in Larnaca, which he had checked out of only hours before.

Suspects arrested on the island are almost always held in custody for fear they may attempt to flee through the internationally unrecognised Turkish-run enclave of northern Cyprus. Both Turkey and Syria are only short boat rides away.

According to court documents, Metsos was the go-between for a network of agents across the US. He is accused of receiving money from a Russian agent, which he then allegedly buried in a park in northern Virginia for the other spies to retrieve.

The strategic Mediterranean island has long been considered a staging post for spies. The US and Russian embassies stand only metres apart in the capital, Nicosia. Topped with satellite dishes and listening devices, both spend an inordinate amount of time trying to track each other.

Cyprus has a flourishing Russian community, with Russian advertisements, media and shops selling Russian goods in abundance. Unlike any other EU state, the Cypriot government is also headed by a communist party, Akel, that has strong ties to Moscow.

Meanwhile, the British connections of another alleged Russian spy, Anna Chapman, strengthened when Barclays Bank confirmed she had worked in its London office.

Barclays had earlier denied knowledge of Chapman, who is accused by the FBI along with 10 others of being part of a "deep cover" spy ring operating since the 1990s.

But after a more extensive search by the bank, a spokesman confirmed to the Guardian that an Anna Chapman did work in its small business banking division between 2004 and 2005.

Another British-based company, the private plane hire firm NetJets Europe, confirmed that she worked in the UK, but not for as long or at such a senior level as claimed on her online CV profile on LinkedIn.

Chapman and the nine others arrested in the US have been charged with failing to register as foreign agents, a crime that is less serious than espionage, and which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. Some also face money laundering charges.

The FBI moved in to break up the ring because one of the suspects was thought to have been on the point of leaving the country, bound for Moscow, according to court papers.

The arrests raised suggestions that Moscow has planted other couples in the US. Federal prosecutor Michael Farbiarz said the allegations are "the tip of the iceberg" of a conspiracy by Russia's intelligence service, the SVR.

[troung]

Time to recognize the Turkish half...

Morons... giving bail to a spy...

]Cypriot police say Russian spying suspect vanished
By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS, Associated Press Writer Menelaos Hadjicostis, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 6 mins ago

LARNACA, Cyprus – Cypriot police began searching late Wednesday for an alleged Russian spy wanted in the United States who vanished after being released on bail a day earlier in the Mediterranean island nation.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said Christopher Robert Metsos, 54, who says he is Canadian, failed to report to police in the southern coastal town of Larnaca between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. local time (1500GMT and 1700GMT; 11:00 a.m. EDT and 1:00 p.m. EDT) Wednesday according to the terms of release imposed on him Tuesday by a Cypriot court.

Katsounotos said a search failed to locate Metsos and authorities have begun the procedures to issue a warrant for his arrest for breaching the terms of his release.

Andreas Pastellides, one of two lawyers representing Metsos in Cyprus, told the Associated Press that they'd had no contact with their client since Tuesday afternoon.

Pastellides said Metsos did not show up for a meeting he was supposed to have Wednesday afternoon in Larnaca with Pastellides' partner, Michalis Papathanasiou.

Metsos' quick disappearance raised questions about why Cypriot authorities released him on bail.

"I'm truly surprised that the court issued no such detention order against an individual who is alleged to be a spy," said Ionas Nicolaou, member of parliament for the opposition Disy party and chairman of parliament's Legal Affairs Committee. "By virtue of the fact that this individual was suspected of being a spy, I don't think his conditional release was justified. Of course, I can't know exactly what facts or arguments were presented before the court for that decision to be taken."

But Pastellides defended the bail request.

"We objected to our client's detention because he did not wish to be detained until his extradition," Pastellides said. "Yes, it was a serious case, but God forbid if someone remains detained for a month until extradition proceedings can begin."

Pastellides said he was not surprised that the judge freed Metsos, saying that his partner Papathanasiou, who represented Metsos in court, convinced the judge his detention wasn't necessary by pointing out Metsos' willingness to surrender his travel documents, appear once a day at a local police station and pay bail of about euro26,500 ($32,500).

Dean Boyd, spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department's national security division, said he was aware of the media reports regarding Metsos, but is "going to have to defer to Cyprus authorities for comment."

A spokesman at FBI headquarters in Washington, William Carter, said the bureau is aware of press reports on the Metsos matter "and we are not commenting at this time."

Metsos had been staying at a hotel in Larnaca.

Metsos could have slipped into the Turkish Cypriot north of the island, which is recognized by no country other than Turkey and has no formal extradition treaties with other countries. The north is linked to Turkey by an airport and ferry services. There are no direct air links to any other country other than Turkey, but a ferry service also runs between the northern port of Famagusta and Latakia, Syria.

The north has had a reputation for acting as a refuge for Britons fleeing justice in their homeland. Crossings between the north and south of the island were forbidden until 2003, when authorities on both sides and relaxed restrictions. Since 2003, there have been hundreds of thousands of crossings from both sides across six crossing points.

Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Metsos was arrested early Tuesday at Larnaca airport as he tried to board a flight for Budapest, Hungary. His arrest was based on a notice issued by Interpol, the international police agency.

Katsounotos had said that Metsos arrived on the island June 17. Cypriot authorities received the Interpol arrest warrant on June 25.

In the past, the east Mediterranean island has been known as a regional hub for spies from across the Mideast, as it straddles the meeting point of three continents — Europe, Africa and Asia. It lies in far eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, a mere 45 miles or so from the southern coast of Turkey, about 110 miles from Syria and 145 miles from Lebanon.

____

Associated Press writers Pete Yost in Washington, D.C., and Angela Doland in Paris contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

=============