RUSSIA/FILE: Russian spymaster convicted in absentia for betraying ten U.S.-based agents in one of Moscow's most embarrassing intelligence episodes since the Cold War

Record ID: 722303

  • Title: RUSSIA/FILE: Russian spymaster convicted in absentia for betraying ten U.S.-based agents in one of Moscow's most embarrassing intelligence episodes since the Cold War
  • Date: 28th June 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JUNE 27, 2011) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO MOSCOW DISTRICT MILITARY COURT SIGN OF "MOSCOW DISTRICT MILITARY COURT" ON WALL JUDGES TAKING SEATS IN COURT ROOM CAMERAMEN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) JUDGE ALEXANDER ABABKOV, SAYING: "The Moscow District Military Court has come out with a sentence: Alexander Nikolayevich Poteyev is to be found guilty of state treason, i.e. of revealing state secrets by a Russian National to representatives of a foreign state to the detriment of the external security of the Russian Federation, i.e. to the crime, stated in the clause 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, based on which he is sentenced to imprisonment for the duration of 20 years." PROSECUTOR AND CAMERAMEN JUDGES LEAVING DEFENSE LAWYER ANDREI KUCHEROV TALKING TO JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE COURT JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DEFENSE LAWYER, ANDREI KUCHEROV, SAYING: "There is substantial evidence (against Alexander Poteyev ). The court had checked them for permissibility. You see, it is very difficult for me to work as his defense (lawyer) without any contact with him." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE COURT
  • Embargoed: 13th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA23QG5EPU0Y3PIND1VYB1S4WSW
  • Story Text: A Russian spymaster, Alexander Poteyev was convicted of treason in absentia on Monday (June 27) for betraying 10 U.S.-based agents in one of Moscow's most embarrassing intelligence failures since the Cold War.
    The unmasking of the Russian spy ring last June, just days after President Dmitry Medvedev's Washington summit with Barack Obama, was a major embarrassment for the Kremlin which has sought to improve ties with the United States.
    The one of the three judges at the verdict, said that Poteyev had passed details about how Moscow finances and communicates with its spies working abroad to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
    "The Moscow District Military Court has come out with a sentence: Alexander Nikolayevich Poteyev is to be found guilty of state treason, i.e. of revealing state secrets by a Russian National to representatives of a foreign state to the detriment of the external security of the Russian Federation, i.e. to the crime, stated in the clause 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, based on which he is sentenced to imprisonment for the duration of 20 years," judge Alexander Ababkov said while reading the verdict.
    Poteyev, deputy head of the Russia's Intelligence Service (SVR) "S" department that oversees "deep cover" spying operations, was sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison. The court materials were classified as "secret" and even Poteyev's defense lawyer Andrei Kucherov, who was present at the court on Monday, admitted that it was difficult to defend his client.
    "There is substantial evidence (against Alexander Poteyev ). The court had checked them for permissibility. You see, it is very difficult for me to work as his defense (lawyer) without any contact with him" Kucherov said.
    The unmasking of the spy ring made Poteyev one of Russia's most senior turncoats in decades and weakened Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov, a former prime minister.
    Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB spy, said last year that traitors come to a bad end and a Russian newspaper quoted Kremlin source as saying a hitman had been sent after the man who betrayed Russia's spying operation.
    All 10 Russian agents arrested in the United States pleaded guilty and were deported to Russia in a swap for four people imprisoned in Russia for contact with Western intelligence agencies.
    As deputy director of deep cover operations -- spies known as "illegals" because they operate with false identities with no diplomatic cover -- Poteyev had access to almost all the secrets about Russia's spying operations in the United States. Such was the damage to the reputation of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service that Russian media reported that it was having to fight off attempts to fold it into the powerful Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor of the Soviet-era KGB. Poteyev, who had received state awards including a medal for "impeccable service", fled Russia by travelling to Belarus where U.S. intelligence agents spirited him back to the United States.
    One of the spy ring members, Anna Chapman, who became a media sensation, returned to Russia following the scandal. On returning to her homeland, Chapman made a debut into politics last winter, when she was announced the youth leader of the Kremlin-backed "Molodaya Gvardia" or Young Guard movement. The announcement was made at a Moscow exhibition centre, where movement members enjoyed a disco-like setting to celebrate the end of their 3-day convention, during which movement officials were elected.
    Molodaya Gvardia, which is the youth party that leads into the ruling party United Russia, is comprised of members from 18-30 years old. Chapman, 29, who is by far the most public of a 10-person spy ring arrested in the United States last year, seems to have taken advantage of her celebrity, winning a consulting job at a Russian bank and starring in a seductive lingerie photo shoot with the Russian-language Maxim magazine. Chapman also began hosting in a television show "Mysteries of the World" on Russia's REN-TV channel, and created a charity to help children with sight problems.
    Putin rallied to the defence of Chapman and the nine other Russian spies after they were expelled from the U.S. and promised them all important work in their homeland.
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