US Charges Russian Spies in New York #Ukraine The US Department of Justice has charged three Russian men who worked in New York with espionage; two of them who had diplomatic immunity have left the country already and the third is in custody. The Guardian reports: Federal prosecutors in New York have unveiled criminal charges against three men for their alleged involvement in a spying scheme for Russia’s foreign intelligence service. According to a criminal complaint, Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy conspired in the United States to gather intelligence on behalf of Russia and to recruit New York City residents to help. The Daily Beast reports: The FBI said it arrested three alleged Russian spies in New York on Monday as part of a ring trying to recruit New York residents and collect economic intelligence. Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev, and Victor Podobnyy allegedly work for the Russian SVR intelligence service. In May 2013, they discussed transmitting to SVR headquarters in Moscow intelligence that Buryakov gathered during his cover job as an employee in the Manhattan office of a Russian bank. Podobnyys cover job was that of a member of the Russian mission to the United Nations. Sporyshevs cover was as a trade representative. According to the complaint published by Attorney General Eric Holder on the web site of the Department of Justice: Attorney General Eric Holder, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York and Assistant Director Randall C. Coleman of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division announced charges today against Evgeny Buryakov, aka “Zhenya,” Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy in connection with Buryakov’s service as a covert intelligence agent on behalf of the Russian Federation (Russia) in New York City, without notifying the U.S. Attorney General of Buryakov’s status as an agent of Russia, as required by federal law. Buryakov was placed under arrest earlier today in Bronx, New York, and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in federal court in Manhattan later today. Sporyshev and Podobnyy no longer reside in the United States and have not been arrested. By virtue of their prior positions in the United States on behalf of Russia, both of them were protected by diplomatic immunity from arrest and prosecution while in the United States. “These charges demonstrate our firm commitment to combating attempts by covert agents to illegally gather intelligence and recruit spies within the United States,” said Attorney General Holder. “We will use every tool at our disposal to identify and hold accountable foreign agents operating inside this country – no matter how deep their cover. I want to thank the dedicated men and women of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division and New York Field Office, the National Security Division’s Counterespionage Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for their skilled handling of this complex and highly sensitive matter.” The Justice Department describes how the Russians used tradecraft typical of spies when they scheduled meetings with each other: These meetings were nearly always preceded by a short telephone call between Buryakov and Sporyshev, during which one of the men typically told the other that he had an item to give to him. Typically, during these telephone calls, which were intercepted by the FBI, the item in question was referred to as some non-specific ticket, book, list or other ordinary item (e.g., umbrella or hat). Subsequently, at each meeting surveilled by the FBI, Buryakov and Sporyshev met and sometimes exchanged documents or other small items. Notably, despite discussing on approximately 12 occasions the need to meet to transfer “tickets,” Buryakov and Sporyshev, were – other than one occasion where they discussed going to a movie – never observed attending, or discussing in any detail, events that would typically require tickets, such as a sporting event or concert. In fact, Buryakov and Sporyshev used this coded language to signal that they needed to meet, and then met to exchange intelligence information. The complaint also details how the alleged Russian spies tried to recruit American university students: In numerous recorded communications, Sporyshev and Podobnyy discussed their attempts to recruit U.S. residents, including several individuals employed by major companies, and several young women with ties to a major university located in New York City (University-1), as intelligence sources for the SVR. On these recordings, the defendants discussed the potential value of these sources and identified particular sources by use of a “source name,” which appears to be a coded name. In addition, during these recordings, Sporyshev and Podobnyy discussed the efforts of other SVR agents to recruit a number of other Russian-origin individuals associated with University-1 as intelligence sources. For example, Sporyshev and Podobnyy discussed Podobnyy’s efforts to recruit a male working as a consultant in New York City as an intelligence source. During this conversation, Podobnyy explained his source recruitment method, which included cheating, promising favors and then discarding the intelligence source once the relevant information was obtained by the SVR: “This is intelligence method to cheat. . . . You promise a favor for a favor. You get the documents from him and tell him to go [expletive] himself.” Previously in 2010, the FBI arrested 10 illegals, Russians accused of arranging long-term stays in the US for the purpose of espionage, and traded them for captured Americans accused of espionage. Among them was Anna Chapman, an attractive real estate entrepreneur with an extensive network in the US. Chapman later posed on the cover of the Russian version of Maxim magazine in Agent Provocateur lingerie and has been involved in a number of publicity stunts to promote the Kremlin, including a trip to help train Russian troops aiding the separatists in southeastern Ukraine.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 01:21:32 +0000
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