10 alleged Russian secret agents arrested in US By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Monday, June 28, 2010
The FBI has arrested 10 people for allegedly serving for years as secret agents of Russia's intelligence organ, the SVR, with the goal of penetrating U.S. government policymaking circles.
According to court papers unsealed Monday, the FBI intercepted a message from SVR headquarters, Moscow Center, to two of the defendants describing their main mission as "to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US." Intercepted messages showed they were asked to learn about a broad swath of topics including nuclear weapons, U.S. arms control positions, Iran, White House rumors, CIA leadership turnover, the last presidential election, the Congress and political parties.
After a secret multiyear investigation, the Justice Department announced the arrests Monday in a blockbuster spy case that could rival the capture of Soviet Col. Rudolf Abel in 1957 in New York..............................>>>>.......................>>>>.......Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....;tsp=1#ixzz0sCEDzHBw
Obama knew of spies before Medvedev talk Updated: 07:26, Wednesday June 30, 2010
US President Barack Obama knew about the FBI operation to smash an alleged Russian spy ring before meeting President Dmitry Medvedev last week, but did not raise it at the talks, an aide said.
But the White House said the revelations, which were condemned by Russia, would not interfere with the effort by both sides to 'reset' their relations, which has been pursued ever since Obama took office last year.
The alleged operation was busted just a few days after a warm summit between Obama and Medvedev at the White House at which both sides made an elaborate effort to bury any lingering Cold War tensions.
'I do not believe this will affect the reset of our relationship with Russia,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
'We have made great progress in the past year and a half. I do not think this will affect those relations.'
Gibbs said Obama had been briefed on what he termed a law enforcement issue and had known about it before he met Medvedev, but did not raise it at the talks and a joint trip to a burger joint in suburban Virginia last week.....................>>>>............................>>>>.................http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=478948&articleID=
NEW YORK -- An alleged member of a Russian spy ring that authorities say operated under deep cover in America's suburbs vanished in Cyprus on Wednesday, a day after being released on bail.
The man, who had gone by the name Christopher Metsos and was wanted in the U.S. on charges he supplied money to the spy ring, had been arrested Tuesday in the Mediterranean island nation as he tried to board a flight for Budapest, Hungary.
On Wednesday, after a Cypriot judge had freed him on $32,500 bail, he failed to show for a required meeting with police, and authorities began searching for him.
The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI -- which spent nearly a decade gathering evidence against some of the defendants in the case -- refused to comment on Metsos' disappearance.
EUROPE NEWSJUNE 30, 2010 Putin Rips Russian Spy Bust By EVAN PEREZ in Washington and RICHARD BOUDREAUX in Moscow
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday criticized U.S. law enforcement, even as his government acknowledged that its citizens were among the 11 people that U.S. authorities charged were part of a long-running spy operation.
Both Mr. Putin and U.S. officials voiced hopes that the brewing scandal would not harm relations between the two countries, and there was no sign in Moscow of the kind of tit-for-tat action that a deeper diplomatic rift would imply.
Still, the emergence of an alleged cell of secret agents reporting back to handlers in Moscow undercut the Obama administration's claim of improved ties with Moscow as part of a "reset" of U.S.-Russia relations.
President Barack Obama last week took Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to his favorite hamburger joint, which turned out to be just blocks from the Arlington, Va., apartment building where one of the alleged Russian secret agents lived.................>>>>...................>>>>..........http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575337041000860662.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories#printMode
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