Former Russian intelligence officer charged with treason for betraying U.S. spy ring

[News_Editor]

Former Russian intelligence officer charged with treason for betraying U.S. spy ring

2011-05-04 04:44:45 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday announced that a former intelligence officer was charged with high treason for betraying a U.S. spy ring last year.

According to RIA Novosti, Alexander Poteyev helped the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to uncover a spy ring which resulted in the arrest of ten Russian nationals.

"The FSB investigation department has completed an investigation into the case to charge Poteyev with committing high treason by divulging state secrets," the FSB said in a statement.

Poteyev fled to the U.S. with his family shortly after the FBI announced the arrest of the Russian sleeper agents. On April 21, an indictment was filed against him in Moscow's main military court. He is being prosecuted in absentia.

In June 2010, the FBI detained ten Russian nationals in relation with a spy ring. After a long investigation the FBI determined that they acted as unregistered agents for the Russian government, sending secret messages and following orders received from Russian contacts.

All of them, including media star Anna Chapman, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as unregistered foreign agents. They were ordered to never return to U.S. soil and authorities seized their properties.

The Russian sleeper agents were returned to Russia in exchange for four men accused by the Kremlin of spying for Britain's MI6 and the CIA. This was the biggest spy swap since the Cold War.

On March 23, two members of a Russian spy ring filed property claim against the U.S. in Moscow. Vladimir and Lidia Guryev, better known as Richard and Cynthia Murphy, demanded the return of three cars, $190,000 held in a bank account and data recorded in photo and video cameras.

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