FBI cracks Russian spy ring
January 26, 2015
Evgeny Buryakov, also known as "Zhenya," was arrested on Monday in New York City's Bronx borough Monday, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found that he had been posing as an employee in the Manhattan office of a Russian bank while working undercover for Russia's foreign intelligence agency.
Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy, who have also been charged with spying on the US, have already left the States.
Between 2010 and 2014, Sporyshev served as a trade representative of Russia, and from December 2012 to September 2013, Podobnyy worked as an attaché at the Russian mission to the United Nations.
The defendants were directed by Russian authorities "to gather intelligence on, among other subjects, potential United States sanctions against Russian banks and the United States' efforts to develop alternative energy resources."
The investigation was an offshoot of a 2010 case which resulted in the arrest of 10 covert agents who infiltrated suburban America.
In a statement on Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the new case "demonstrates our firm commitment to combating attempts by covert agents to illegally gather intelligence and recruit spies within the United States".
"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," Holder said.
ksb/bw (AFP, AP, dpa)