Saturday 24 July 2010

Putin meets Russian spies expelled from US

Putin meets Russian spies expelled from US

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said he met the Russian intelligence agents deported from the US in a spy-swap row in July.

He said they had sung songs together about the Motherland, adding that he had no doubts "they will have interesting, bright lives".

However, Mr Putin did not say where the meeting took place.

The 10 Russians admitted in a US court earlier this month to being agents for a foreign country.

Spy swap

US and Russia "spies"

Deported from US

  • "Richard Murphy" and "Cynthia Murphy" admitted they were Russians Vladimir Guryev (44) and Lydia Guryev (39)
  • "Donald Howard Heathfield" and "Tracey Lee Ann Foley" admitted they were Russians Andrei Bezrukov (49) and Elena Vavilova (47)
  • "Michael Zottoli" and "Patricia Mills" admitted they were Russians Mikhail Kutsik (49) and Natalia Pereverzeva (36)
  • "Juan Lazaro" admitted he was Russian Mikhail Vasenkov (66) - married to Vicky Pelaez (55), journalist born in Peru
  • Anna Chapman, 28 (maiden name Anya Kushchenko) - real estate entrepreneur, daughter of Russian diplomat
  • Mikhail Semenko - apparently operated under own name
  • MISSING - 11th suspect known as "Christopher Metsos", disappeared while on bail in Cyprus

Deported from Russia

  • Igor Sutyagin, nuclear scientist jailed in 2004 for spying for CIA
  • Sergei Skripal, ex-military intelligence (GRU), jailed for spying for UK in 2006
  • Alexander Zaporozhsky, ex-agent of foreign intelligence service (SVR), jailed for spying in 2003
  • Gennady Vasilenko, said to be former KGB agent, jailed in 2006 over illegal weapons

More serious money laundering charges against them were dropped.

They were then flown to Vienna, where a Russian jet carrying four prisoners freed by Russia arrived around the same time - in what was America's biggest spy swap with Russia since the Cold War.

'Betrayal'

Mr Putin, who served as a KGB agent during the Soviet era, made the comments about his meeting during a visit to Foros, Ukraine, on Saturday.

He also confirmed that Anna Chapman - who had received most of the publicity in the Western and Russian media - was among the agents present.

He said that "everyone of them had a tough life".

"First (problem) was to master foreign language as your own. Think and speak it and do what are you told to do for the interest of your motherland for many years without counting on diplomatic immunity," the prime minister said.

"This (spy scandal) came as a result of betrayal. They (the betrayers) end up taking to drink or drugs."

And when asked by reporters if Moscow was planning to take revenge, he said: "It is incorrect to ask about it.

"The special services live under their own laws and everyone knows what these laws are."

No comments:

Post a Comment