Authorities in the United States have charged three Russian citizens, two of them diplomats, with operating a New York-based spy ring on orders from Moscow. Early on Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation named the diplomats as Igor Sporyshev, 40, and Victor Podobnyy, 27. It said the two were employees of the trade office of the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in New York. But the FBI had apparently been monitoring the two accredited diplomats since March of 2012. Its agents eventually uncovered that Sporyshev and Podobnyy were in fact employees of the SVR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, one of the direct institutional descendants of the Soviet-era KGB. According to their indictment, the two were employed by the SVR’s ‘ER’ Directorate, which focuses on economics and finance. The two SVR employees, operating under diplomatic guises, regularly met with a third member of the alleged spy ring, Evgeny Buryakov, 39, also an SVR officer. However, unlike Sporyshev and Podobnyy, Buryakov was operating under non-official cover, posing as an employee in the Manhattan office of a major Russian bank.
Non-official-cover operatives, or NOCs, as they are known in the US Intelligence Community, are typically high-level principal agents or officers of an intelligence agency, who operate without official connection to the diplomatic authorities of the country that is employing them. They typically pose as business executives, students, academics, journalists, or non-profit agency workers, among other covers. Unlike official-cover officers, who are protected by diplomatic immunity, NOCs have no such protection. If arrested by authorities of their host country, they can be tried and convicted for conducting espionage. US government prosecutors suggested on Monday that the three alleged SVR operatives were also in regular contact with individuals “associated with a leading Russian state-owned news organization”, presumably in the US. They also tried to recruit American citizens to spy for Moscow, including employees of “major companies” and “several young women with ties to a major university in New York”, according to the indictment. It is believed that the three Russians were primarily interested in information relating to potential US government sanctions against Russian financial institutions, as well as Washington’s efforts to promote the development of alternative resources of energy. The FBI said Sporyshev and Podobnyy, who are protected by diplomatic immunity, “no longer reside in the US”. Presumably they were expelled. Buryakov, however, appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday.
JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΟ: Χαμός με την υπεράσπιση Ρώσων κατασκόπων
ΣΧΟΛΙΟ "ΙΣΧΥΣ": ΣΥΝΗΘΕΣ ΦΑΙΝΟΜΕΝΟ Η ΚΑΤΑΣΚΟΠΙΑ ΚΑΙ Η ΠΑΡΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΗΣΗ ΟΛΩΝ ΑΠΟ ΟΛΟΥΣ. ΑΣΥΝΗΘΕΣ Η ΓΝΩΣΤΟΠΟΙΗΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΤΑΥΤΟΤΗΤΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΔΡΑΣΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΕΝΤΟΠΙΣΜΟΥ ΤΟΥΣ. ΟΙ ΔΡΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΤΗΤΕΣ (ΤΟΥΛΑΧΙΣΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΕΣ ΠΟΥ ΦΑΙΝΟΝΤΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ) ΤΩΝ ΡΩΣΩΝ ΔΕΝ ΝΟΜΙΖΟΥΜΕ ΟΤΙ ΗΤΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΣΟ ΕΝΟΧΛΗΤΙΚΕΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΗΠΑ. ΥΠΑΡΧΟΥΝ ΑΛΛΟΙ, ΑΛΛΩΝ ΧΩΡΩΝ (ΜΕ ΤΙΣ ΟΠΟΙΕΣ ΟΙ ΗΠΑ ΕΧΟΥΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΜΜΟΝΕΣ ΦΙΛΙΑΣ) ΜΕ ΠΟΛΥ ΠΙΟ ΕΝΟΧΛΗΤΙΚΗ ΔΡΑΣΗ ΑΛΛΑ ΓΙΝΟΝΤΑΙ ΑΝΕΚΤΟΙ. Η ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΕΝΤΟΠΙΣΜΟΥ ΤΩΡΑ, ΕΙΤΕ ΗΤΑΝ ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΗ ΣΕ ΑΝΤΙΣΤΟΙΧΗ ΚΙΝΗΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΡΩΣΙΑΣ ΕΝΑΝΤΙΩΝ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΩΝ ΚΑΤΑΣΚΟΠΩΝ ΕΙΤΕ ΘΑ ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΗΘΕΙ ΑΠΟ ΑΝΤΙΣΤΟΙΧΗ ΡΩΣΙΚΗ ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΕΝΤΟΠΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΩΝ. ΣΕ ΚΑΘΕ ΠΕΡΙΠΤΩΣΗ ΣΕ ΔΟΥΛΕΙΑ ΝΑ ΒΡΙΣΚΟΝΤΑΙ ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΛΟΓΟΥΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΙΣ ΠΑΧΥΛΕΣ ΑΜΟΙΒΕΣ ΤΟΥΣ. ΑΝΑΜΕΝΕΤΑΙ ΟΜΩΣ ΔΙΠΛΩΜΑΤΙΚΟΣ ΚΑΚΟΣ ΧΑΜΟΣ ΟΠΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΑΙΤΕΡΩ ΨΥΧΡΑΝΣΗ ΗΠΑ-ΡΩΣΙΑΣ.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΟ:«Θ.Β. made in Russia»: Γκάφα ολκής πρακτόρων, δεν το πίστευε το FBI
More on Russian citizens charged with espionage by the FBI
A criminal complaint unsealed Monday in a Manhattan court has revealed more details about a complex counterintelligence operation by American authorities against three Russian citizens in New York. The Federal Bureau of Investigation filed charges against two Russian diplomats, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy, as well as Evgeny Buryakov, an employee of a major Russian bank in Manhattan. All three are believed to be officers of the SVR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, one of the direct institutional descendants of the Soviet-era KGB. According to the criminal complaint, the two diplomats met Buryakov nearly fifty times between March 2012 and September 2014. FBI counterintelligence agents witnessed the Russians pass “small objects or notes” between each other in public, said the indictment. As intelNews reported yesterday, the three Russians were in regular contact with individuals “associated with a leading Russian state-owned news organization” in the US. According to The Daily Beast, the news organization in question is the Moscow-based TASS news agency, which is owned by the Russian government.
The court documents also reveal that Sporyshev and Podobnyy broke basic rules of intelligence tradecraft, by contacting Buryakov using an unencrypted telephone line and addressing him by his real name, rather than his cover name. These conversations, which occurred in April 2013, turned out to be monitored by the FBI’s counterintelligence division, which promptly recorded them. In subsequent telephone conversations, Sporyshev and Podobnyy exchanged views on how to recruit female assets in New York. According to the transcripts provided by the FBI, Sporyshev expressed the view that female assets posed problems, in that they would not let male SVR case officers “get close enough” unless they entered a sexual relationship, which made recruitment of assets complicated. Eventually, the FBI set up a sting operation targeting Buryakov. He was approached by an undercover FBI agent posing as an American investor, offering to provide the Russian with classified documents from the US Treasury. In exchange for the documents, he wanted assistance from the Kremlin to build a chain of casinos in Russia. Buryakov spoke with Sporyshev on the phone about the investor’s offer, and was advised by the diplomat that it could be “some sort of a set up —a trap of some kind”. When Sporyshev told Buryakov to proceed cautiously, the latter received from the undercover FBI agent documents purporting to be from a US Treasury source. The Russian was promptly arrested and now faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of operating as an unregistered agent of a foreign power.
JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
Non-official-cover operatives, or NOCs, as they are known in the US Intelligence Community, are typically high-level principal agents or officers of an intelligence agency, who operate without official connection to the diplomatic authorities of the country that is employing them. They typically pose as business executives, students, academics, journalists, or non-profit agency workers, among other covers. Unlike official-cover officers, who are protected by diplomatic immunity, NOCs have no such protection. If arrested by authorities of their host country, they can be tried and convicted for conducting espionage. US government prosecutors suggested on Monday that the three alleged SVR operatives were also in regular contact with individuals “associated with a leading Russian state-owned news organization”, presumably in the US. They also tried to recruit American citizens to spy for Moscow, including employees of “major companies” and “several young women with ties to a major university in New York”, according to the indictment. It is believed that the three Russians were primarily interested in information relating to potential US government sanctions against Russian financial institutions, as well as Washington’s efforts to promote the development of alternative resources of energy. The FBI said Sporyshev and Podobnyy, who are protected by diplomatic immunity, “no longer reside in the US”. Presumably they were expelled. Buryakov, however, appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday.
JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΟ: Χαμός με την υπεράσπιση Ρώσων κατασκόπων
ΣΧΟΛΙΟ "ΙΣΧΥΣ": ΣΥΝΗΘΕΣ ΦΑΙΝΟΜΕΝΟ Η ΚΑΤΑΣΚΟΠΙΑ ΚΑΙ Η ΠΑΡΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΗΣΗ ΟΛΩΝ ΑΠΟ ΟΛΟΥΣ. ΑΣΥΝΗΘΕΣ Η ΓΝΩΣΤΟΠΟΙΗΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΤΑΥΤΟΤΗΤΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΔΡΑΣΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΕΝΤΟΠΙΣΜΟΥ ΤΟΥΣ. ΟΙ ΔΡΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΤΗΤΕΣ (ΤΟΥΛΑΧΙΣΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΕΣ ΠΟΥ ΦΑΙΝΟΝΤΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ) ΤΩΝ ΡΩΣΩΝ ΔΕΝ ΝΟΜΙΖΟΥΜΕ ΟΤΙ ΗΤΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΣΟ ΕΝΟΧΛΗΤΙΚΕΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΗΠΑ. ΥΠΑΡΧΟΥΝ ΑΛΛΟΙ, ΑΛΛΩΝ ΧΩΡΩΝ (ΜΕ ΤΙΣ ΟΠΟΙΕΣ ΟΙ ΗΠΑ ΕΧΟΥΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΜΜΟΝΕΣ ΦΙΛΙΑΣ) ΜΕ ΠΟΛΥ ΠΙΟ ΕΝΟΧΛΗΤΙΚΗ ΔΡΑΣΗ ΑΛΛΑ ΓΙΝΟΝΤΑΙ ΑΝΕΚΤΟΙ. Η ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΕΝΤΟΠΙΣΜΟΥ ΤΩΡΑ, ΕΙΤΕ ΗΤΑΝ ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΗ ΣΕ ΑΝΤΙΣΤΟΙΧΗ ΚΙΝΗΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΡΩΣΙΑΣ ΕΝΑΝΤΙΩΝ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΩΝ ΚΑΤΑΣΚΟΠΩΝ ΕΙΤΕ ΘΑ ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΗΘΕΙ ΑΠΟ ΑΝΤΙΣΤΟΙΧΗ ΡΩΣΙΚΗ ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΕΝΤΟΠΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΩΝ. ΣΕ ΚΑΘΕ ΠΕΡΙΠΤΩΣΗ ΣΕ ΔΟΥΛΕΙΑ ΝΑ ΒΡΙΣΚΟΝΤΑΙ ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΛΟΓΟΥΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΙΣ ΠΑΧΥΛΕΣ ΑΜΟΙΒΕΣ ΤΟΥΣ. ΑΝΑΜΕΝΕΤΑΙ ΟΜΩΣ ΔΙΠΛΩΜΑΤΙΚΟΣ ΚΑΚΟΣ ΧΑΜΟΣ ΟΠΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΑΙΤΕΡΩ ΨΥΧΡΑΝΣΗ ΗΠΑ-ΡΩΣΙΑΣ.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΟ:«Θ.Β. made in Russia»: Γκάφα ολκής πρακτόρων, δεν το πίστευε το FBI
More on Russian citizens charged with espionage by the FBI
A criminal complaint unsealed Monday in a Manhattan court has revealed more details about a complex counterintelligence operation by American authorities against three Russian citizens in New York. The Federal Bureau of Investigation filed charges against two Russian diplomats, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy, as well as Evgeny Buryakov, an employee of a major Russian bank in Manhattan. All three are believed to be officers of the SVR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, one of the direct institutional descendants of the Soviet-era KGB. According to the criminal complaint, the two diplomats met Buryakov nearly fifty times between March 2012 and September 2014. FBI counterintelligence agents witnessed the Russians pass “small objects or notes” between each other in public, said the indictment. As intelNews reported yesterday, the three Russians were in regular contact with individuals “associated with a leading Russian state-owned news organization” in the US. According to The Daily Beast, the news organization in question is the Moscow-based TASS news agency, which is owned by the Russian government.
The court documents also reveal that Sporyshev and Podobnyy broke basic rules of intelligence tradecraft, by contacting Buryakov using an unencrypted telephone line and addressing him by his real name, rather than his cover name. These conversations, which occurred in April 2013, turned out to be monitored by the FBI’s counterintelligence division, which promptly recorded them. In subsequent telephone conversations, Sporyshev and Podobnyy exchanged views on how to recruit female assets in New York. According to the transcripts provided by the FBI, Sporyshev expressed the view that female assets posed problems, in that they would not let male SVR case officers “get close enough” unless they entered a sexual relationship, which made recruitment of assets complicated. Eventually, the FBI set up a sting operation targeting Buryakov. He was approached by an undercover FBI agent posing as an American investor, offering to provide the Russian with classified documents from the US Treasury. In exchange for the documents, he wanted assistance from the Kremlin to build a chain of casinos in Russia. Buryakov spoke with Sporyshev on the phone about the investor’s offer, and was advised by the diplomat that it could be “some sort of a set up —a trap of some kind”. When Sporyshev told Buryakov to proceed cautiously, the latter received from the undercover FBI agent documents purporting to be from a US Treasury source. The Russian was promptly arrested and now faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of operating as an unregistered agent of a foreign power.
JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
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