The US government has unveiled criminal charges against three men for their alleged involvement in a Russian spy ring operating in New York City.
Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy conspired to gather economic intelligence on behalf of Russia, including alleged information about US sanctions against the country, and to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources, US attorney general Eric Holder said in a statement.
Monday’s charges are linked to Mr Buryakov’s alleged covert work on behalf of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, according to a criminal complaint.
Banker job
Mr Buryakov (39) masked this work by posing as a banker for Russia's Vnesheconombank, according to the complaint and the bank's website. The alleged conspiracy began in 2012, following the 2010 expulsion of several Russian spies from the United States.
Federal prosecutors said Mr Sporyshev (40) worked as a Russian trade representative from November 2010 to November 2014, while Mr Podobnyy (27) was an attaché to Russia's mission to the United Nations from December 2012 to September 2013.
“The presence of a Russian banker in New York would in itself hardly draw attention today, which is why these alleged spies may have thought Buryakov would blend in,” US attorney in Manhattan Preet Bharara said in a statement.
Each defendant was charged with acting as or helping Mr Buryakov to act as an unregistered agent of a Russia, which carries a maximum 10-year prison term, and conspiracy.
FBI meeting
Prosecutors said the case was built on physical and electronic surveillance of dozens of meetings, including several in which Mr Buryakov met with an FBI agent posing as a wealthy investor who hoped to develop casinos in Russia.
They said Mr Buryakov would seek information “far outside” what a banker in his position would care about, including a list of Russian entities that might face future US sanctions.
He was arrested on Monday in the Bronx borough of New York City. His lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
Mr Sporyshev and Mr Podobnyy have not been arrested and no longer live in the United States but had diplomatic immunity while they were in the country, federal prosecutors said.
Russia’s UN mission and Vnesheconombank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters