June 30, 2010

Reporter, Consultant, Housewife, Spy

By Clarice Feldman
Late Monday, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of ten people in the United States who had been planted here by the Russians in the 1990s to blend in and gather information, which they transmitted back to Russia. The defendants are charged with acting as unregistered agents of Russia and with conspiracy to commit money-laundering. There is no charge involving the illegal possession of classified documents.A number of these people were married to each other. One couple at least had two teenage children living with them. The plants, known as "illegals" because their life stories were completely fictitious ("legends"), lived in Arlington(, Virginia), Boston, New York, and New Jersey, and held a variety of positions.Today, Reuters reported that the eleventh member of the group, Robert Christopher Metsos, 55, who did not reside in the U.S. but traveled here often, was arrested at Cyprus's Larnaca airport as he tried to leave the island for Budapest. While...(Read Full Article)