Russian Spy case: SVR connection surfaces

July 2nd, 2010 - 8:19 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

New York, July 2 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Shortly after some alleged Russian spies were captured and publicized by the US authorities, the Russian authorities had denied any knowledge of them and claimed the ten suspects were not even Russian citizens and had nothing to do with the former Soviet Republic. However the FBI had alleged that the Russian Foreign Intelligence or the SVR wanted the spies to get specific information of the US policies.

The accused used fake names like “Cynthia Mills” and “Richard Murphy” and “were not Russian diplomats or even Russian citizens,” according to Russian senator Nikolai Kovalyov. However Russia has changed its tactics and now admits the accused are Russian citizens. The country’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said that the suspects were “Russian citizens who ended up on U.S. territory at different times.”

This is the first time that captured Russian spies have been admitted by the government to be citizens. A former deputy head of the Russian intelligence agency KGB - Oleg Gordievsky who had denounced Russia in 1985, and now lives in London said that, “It would be silly to deny it. Russia is trying to show that their activities were very modest and didn’t damage the interests of the United States.”

9 of the alleged spies now face money-laundering charges that could put them in jail for a maximum of 20 years.

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