MOSCOW — After a group of Russian sleeper agents were arrested in the United States last summer, an angry Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s prime minister, promised to punish the person who betrayed them.
Now, a former Russian intelligence officer suspected of blowing the agents’ cover has been officially charged, and could, if he is ever caught, face up to 20 years in prison.
The officer, Aleksandr Poteyev, was charged in absentia with treason and desertion, a spokesman from Russia’s Federal Security Service said on Tuesday. He said all other details about the case were classified.
Little is known about Mr. Poteyev. It is not even clear where he is. Anonymous law enforcement officials cited in earlier Russian media reports said he had directed spy operations as a deputy head at the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s American section. There, he oversaw a group of at least 10 Russian agents working deep under cover in the United States, living and working as Americans.
Mr. Poteyev, the officials say, fled to the United States just before F.B.I. agents swooped into metropolitan Boston and New York and the suburbs of northern Virginia last summer to arrest the agents.
The operation uncovered the largest Russian spy network in the United States since the end of the cold war and dealt a major blow to the prestige of Russia’s intelligence services.
The agents, who appeared to have gathered no significant information, were deported to Russia after pleading guilty. They were traded for four men imprisoned in Russia, including Igor V. Sutyagin, a Russian scientist convicted of spying for the United States.
Mr. Sutyagin always maintained his innocence, and on Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that he had been wrongly imprisoned and ordered Russia to pay nearly $30,000 in compensation.
It is unclear what exactly will happen to Mr. Poteyev. He will be tried in absentia in a Moscow military court, though a court spokeswoman said hearings in the trial would be classified.
没有评论:
发表评论