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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Russia to release four prisoners in spy exchange with USA |
| 2010-07-09 |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #8 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree pardoning the four Thursday after officials forced them to sign confessions. The Kremlin identified them as Zaporozhsky, Igor Sutyagin, Gennady Vasilenko and Sergei Skripal. Zaporozhsky, a former colonel in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, sentenced in 2003 to 18 years in prison for espionage on behalf of the United States. He was convicted on charges of passing secret information about Russian agents working undercover in the United States and about American sources working for Russian intelligence. Skripal, a former colonel in the Russian military intelligence, was found guilty of passing state secrets to Britain and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006. He was accused of revealing the names of several dozen Russian agents working in Europe. Sutyagin, an arms control researcher convicted of spying for the United States, asserts his innocence despite the confession. He worked with the U.S.A. and Canada Institute, a respected Moscow-based think-tank, before being sentenced to 15 years in 2004 on charges of passing information on nuclear submarines and other weapons to a British company that Russia claimed was a CIA cover. Sutyagin says the information he provided was available from open sources. Gennady Vasilenko, a former KGB officer employed as a security officer by Russia's NTV television, was sentenced in 2006 to three years in prison on murky charges of illegal weapons possession and resistance to authorities. It was not exactly clear why he was involved in the spy swap. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-07-09 11:19 |
| #7 Looks like I was right... At least one of the four — ex-colonel Alexander Zaporozhsky — may have exposed information leading to the capture of Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames, two of the most damaging spies ever caught in the U.S. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-07-09 11:10 |
| #6 From everything I've read about this crew, they sound like The Gang That Couldn't Spy Straight. I have a feeling the four we're getting back were far more effective. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-07-09 10:51 |
| #5 Obama administration officials said the deal illustrated the good working relationship between the former Cold War enemies. Officials also indicated that the spies had provided little useful information after their arrests. Obama bent over on missile defense, looked away from the Gibraltar incident, and acquiesced on the sanction language for Iran. And now, had the roles been reversed it’s impossible to fathom that Putin would have been as cordial with our spooks. But official word is that after a decade of counter espionage with this many actors there weren’t any loose ends and everyone is buddy-buddy. “Good working relationship”? What am I missing? |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2010-07-09 10:44 |
| #4 Indeed, getting ones guys back is supposed to be an important trust tool. Perhaps the clanfolk on the eastern side will get a ticket to ride. Where will they do this act? There is a lack current, of checkpoints and bridges, I suggest Lisbon for it's historical attributes and atmosphere proto-noir. Or halftime at world cup for security and irony. |
| Posted by: Black Bart Shick7973 2010-07-09 06:12 |
| #3 As part of the deal, the Russians had to plead guilty to spying. Yep, that proves it. What's next? Do we parade this around as some sort of crushing victory? Maybe we just wanted our guys back. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-07-09 01:58 |
| #2 What's sad is that I - for one - would be happy to take the ten Russian agents - who I frankly know little about - and have them replace Obama, Biden, Emmanuel, Holder, Napolitano, Pelosi, Reed, and a few other administration officials - and I would then sleep a lot easier at nights, believing that the ate of the USA was in better hands than before. I have no reason to believe that these ten had any animosity toward the USA, or wished to harm the country. They probably should have just been fined, and required to register as foreign agents. It is so sad that our nation is led by such damage-inducing individuals. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2010-07-09 01:37 |
| #1 Spies are icky and embarrassing. Don't you Russians have a some folks we could trade for? Let's get this nastiness over quickly before the political campaign contributions, home and student loan applications, and potential terrorist connections are examined. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-07-09 00:36 |