Russia, US swap 14 spies in Vienna
Source: Agencies |
July 10, 2010, Saturday
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THE United States and Russia orchestrated the largest spy swap since the Cold War, exchanging 10 spies arrested in the US for four convicted in Russia in a tightly choreographed diplomatic dance at Vienna's airport yesterday.
The exchange was a clear demonstration of President Barack Obama's "reset" ties between Moscow and Washington, enabling the US to retrieve four Russians, some of who were suffering through long prison terms.
At least one of the four -- 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 US. The others released were Igor Sutyagin, Gennady Vasilenko and Sergei Skripal.
Moscow avoided having 10 spy trials in the US that would have spilled embarrassing details of how its agents, posing as ordinary citizens, apparently uncovered little of value but managed to be watched by the FBI for years.
After being mum for days, the US Justice Department in Washington finally announced a successful completion to the spy swap after the two planes involved touched down in Moscow and London.
One alleged Russian spy wanted in the US -- the paymaster for the spy ring -- was still a fugitive after jumping bail in Cyprus. Neither the US or Russia have commented on his whereabouts.
To start the whirlwind exchange, two planes -- one from New York's La Guardia airport and another from Moscow -- arrived yesterday in Vienna within minutes of each other. They parked nose-to-tail at a remote section on the tarmac, exchanged spies using a small bus, then departed just as quickly. In all, it took less than 90 minutes.
The swap completed, the Russian Emergencies Ministry Yakovlvev Yak-42 plane left Vienna for Moscow carrying the 10 people deported from the US, and a maroon-and-white Boeing 767-200 that brought those agents in from New York then carried four Russians who had confessed to spying for the West on to London.
British media said the US charter landed at RAF Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire in southern England, but it was not immediately clear what the plane's next destination would be -- if any.
Vienna added yet another event to its long history as a key Cold War diplomatic site, the capital of neutral Austria being a preferred place to work on treaties and agreements meant to reduce US-Soviet tensions.
In exchange for the 10 Russian agents, the US won freedom for and access to two former Russian intelligence colonels who had been convicted in their home country of compromising dozens of valuable Soviet-era and Russian agents operating in the West. Two others also convicted of betraying Moscow were wrapped into the deal.
The exchange was a clear demonstration of President Barack Obama's "reset" ties between Moscow and Washington, enabling the US to retrieve four Russians, some of who were suffering through long prison terms.
At least one of the four -- 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 US. The others released were Igor Sutyagin, Gennady Vasilenko and Sergei Skripal.
Moscow avoided having 10 spy trials in the US that would have spilled embarrassing details of how its agents, posing as ordinary citizens, apparently uncovered little of value but managed to be watched by the FBI for years.
After being mum for days, the US Justice Department in Washington finally announced a successful completion to the spy swap after the two planes involved touched down in Moscow and London.
One alleged Russian spy wanted in the US -- the paymaster for the spy ring -- was still a fugitive after jumping bail in Cyprus. Neither the US or Russia have commented on his whereabouts.
To start the whirlwind exchange, two planes -- one from New York's La Guardia airport and another from Moscow -- arrived yesterday in Vienna within minutes of each other. They parked nose-to-tail at a remote section on the tarmac, exchanged spies using a small bus, then departed just as quickly. In all, it took less than 90 minutes.
The swap completed, the Russian Emergencies Ministry Yakovlvev Yak-42 plane left Vienna for Moscow carrying the 10 people deported from the US, and a maroon-and-white Boeing 767-200 that brought those agents in from New York then carried four Russians who had confessed to spying for the West on to London.
British media said the US charter landed at RAF Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire in southern England, but it was not immediately clear what the plane's next destination would be -- if any.
Vienna added yet another event to its long history as a key Cold War diplomatic site, the capital of neutral Austria being a preferred place to work on treaties and agreements meant to reduce US-Soviet tensions.
In exchange for the 10 Russian agents, the US won freedom for and access to two former Russian intelligence colonels who had been convicted in their home country of compromising dozens of valuable Soviet-era and Russian agents operating in the West. Two others also convicted of betraying Moscow were wrapped into the deal.
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