Recent Russian Intelligence Operations

[Dayuhan]

I am struck by the timing, especially as the BBC report implies deep cover agents at work for a very long time.

I'd guess the FBI has known about this for some time. I don't think they'd normally roll a network like this up right away, first impulse would be to try to use it to pass disinformation. The arrests suggest that any possible such use was not seen as particularly valuable, and of course that the timing was seen as useful.

If the Russians make arrests to trade they will have to admit that this was in fact a spy network, so far they don't seem to be doing that. We'll see...

Much of the media attention seems to be driven by the fact that one of the alleged spies is female and hot. Some things get more attention than others...

[AdamG]

Russian spy ring: fact, parody and nostalgia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...rody-nostalgia

The creator of Spooks on the Russian espionage scandal, its nostalgic spycraft and how fact can be less credible than fiction

Also, a swanky spreadsheet on Googledocs of the 11 spies -
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...NTV9LZ3c#gid=0

[AdamG]

NEW YORK (AP) -- 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.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

[Kevin23]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

Here is a further story on Mr. "Christopher Mestos" from the Cyprus Mail

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/va...-bail/20100701

[bourbon]

As the story of the SVR illegals played out this past week, I trolled Google News searching for insight from former SVR officer Sergei Tretyakov to no avail. Sergei Tretyakov may be the most important spy for the United States since the end of the Cold War; it is believed that he spent 3 years as a US agent while he was still an SVR colonel in New York before he defected.

So it is with great regret to learn that Sergei Tretyakov, at the age of 53, died June 13 of a heart attack at his home in Florida. Rest in peace, Comrade J.

Sergei Tretyakov, Spy Who Fled to U.S., Dies at 53, The New York Times, July 9, 2010.
Sergei Tretyakov dies; former Russian spy defected to U.S. in 2000, The Washington Post, July 10, 2010.
Sergei Tretyakov, Russian Spy ‘Comrade J,’ Dead at 53, PeteEarley.com, July 9, 2010.
Sergei’s Death. Mistakes. Nonsense and a Chuckle, PeteEarley.com, July 10, 2010.

The story of Sergei Tretyakov is told in Comrade J.: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America after the End of the Cold War by veteran intelligence journalist Pete Early. Tretyakov also gave an extensive interview over a series of reports by WTOP titled "Escaping from the Iron Curtain".

[bourbon]

Report Points to Russian Double Agent, by Clifford J. Levy. The New York Times, November 11, 2010.

MOSCOW — A Russian newspaper reported Thursday that a senior official in Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service had provided the information that enabled the United States to break up a ring of Russian sleeper spies in June.

The turncoat official, identified only as Colonel Shcherbakov, was said to have defected to the United States just before the arrests and was now being tracked by a Russian assassination squad, according to the newspaper, Kommersant, considered one of Russia’s most authoritative.

[jmm99]

Shcherbakov; but it would be ironic if "Col. Shcherbakov" is related to Alexander Shcherbakov, claimed to be a victim of the conspirators charged by Uncle Joe in the infamous Doctors' Plot.

HT for keeping us up to date.

Regards

Mike