U.S., Russia spy swap in motion

Russian spy suspects, as seen from left to right in this courtroom sketch, are Vicky Pelaez, Richard Murphy, Cynthia Murphy and Juan Lazaro.

Russian spy suspects, as seen from left to right in this courtroom sketch, are Vicky Pelaez, Richard Murphy, Cynthia Murphy and Juan Lazaro. (Shirley Shepherd/Reuters)

The Associated Press : Last Updated: Thursday, July 8, 2010/11:57 AM ET : One of the biggest Russia-U.S. spy swaps since the Cold War was in motion Thursday, as a Russian convicted of spying for the United States was reportedly flown to Vienna from a Moscow prison.

Igor Sutyagin, a Russian arms control analyst serving a 14-year sentence for spying for the United States, told relatives he was one of 11 convicted spies in Russia who would be freed in exchange for 10 people charged in the United States with being Russian agents.

Sutyagin's lawyer in Moscow said a journalist called Sutyagin's family to inform them that he was seen walking off a plane in Vienna on Thursday. However, the lawyer was not able to get confirmation from Russian authorities.

Sutyagin, who worked as an arms control and military analyst at the Moscow-based think-tank U.S.A. and Canada Institute, was arrested in 1999 and convicted in 2004 on charges of passing information about nuclear submarines and other weapons to a British company that investigators claimed was a CIA cover.

Sutyagin's brother said Sutyagin saw a list of 11 prisoners in Russia who are being traded for 10 people arrested in the United States last week for being unregistered Russian agents.

Russian and U.S. officials have refused to comment on any possible swap.

Meanwhile, defence lawyers in New York say they expect an immediate resolution for their 10 clients charged with spying in the United States.

A federal court in New York was to decide the fate of those 10 suspects later Thursday.

Neither country would confirm an exchange was planned. But the machinations — including a meeting in Washington between U.S. officials and the Russian ambassador on Wednesday — had all the hallmarks as the two former Cold War enemies moved to tamp down tensions stirred by the U.S. arrests.

Dmitry Sutyagin said his brother remembered only one other person on the Russian list of spies to be exchanged — Sergei Skripal, a colonel in Russian military intelligence who in 2006 was sentenced to 13 years on charges of spying for Britain.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron would not confirm or deny a possible London tie to the spy swap.

"This is primarily an issue for the U.S. authorities," spokesman Steve Field said.

Five suspects charged with spying in the U.S. were hurriedly ordered to New York on Wednesday, joining five others already behind bars there, after Sutyagin spilled the news of the swap from his penal colony near the Arctic Circle.

In a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday, the 10 suspects in New York and an 11th person, who was released on bail by a court in Cyprus and is now a fugitive, were formally charged.

Arraignment hearing set

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The indictment charged all of them with conspiring to act as secret agents and charged nine with conspiracy to commit money laundering. It demanded that those accused of money laundering return any assets used in the offence.

Attorney Robert Baum, who represents defendant Anna Chapman, said late Wednesday the case might be settled when she and the other nine people arrested in the United States appear for arraignment on the indictment, raising the possibility of guilty pleas to the lowest charges and deportation from the U.S.

Prosecutors released a copy of the indictment as federal judges in Boston and Alexandria, Va., signed orders directing that five defendants arrested in Massachusetts and Virginia be transferred to New York. All were charged in Manhattan.

The defendants were accused of living seemingly ordinary lives in America while they acted as unregistered agents for the Russian government, sending secret messages and carrying out orders they received from their Russian contacts.

All have remained in custody except for a man identified as Christopher R. Metsos, the 11th suspect who is charge with being the ring's paymaster. Metsos, travelling on a fake Canadian passport, jumped bail last week after being arrested in Cyprus.

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