CBC News 29 June, 2010

U.S. allegations against a group of people accused of participating in a Russian intelligence program are baseless, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Ten people — including some purported to be Canadians — were arrested over the weekend in the U.S. for allegedly working on "deep cover" assignments for Russia, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement released Monday.

Christopher Metsos, the 11th accused, was arrested early Tuesday at the Larnaca airport in Cyprus while trying to fly to Budapest, Hungary, police in the Mediterranean island nation said. Metsos, 54, who claims to be Canadian, was later released on bail.

Russia's Foreign Ministry acknowledged that some of those arrested include Russian citizens but insisted they did nothing to hurt U.S. interests.

Otherwise, the U.S. actions are unfounded and pursued "unseemly" goals, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"We don't understand the reasons which prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to make a public statement in the spirit of Cold War-era spy stories," it said.

The statement also voiced regret that the arrests came even though U.S. President Barack Obama has moved to "reset" U.S. relations with Russia.

"They haven't explained to us what this is about," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier at a news conference during a visit to Jerusalem.

Officials in Moscow are still waiting for more information from the U.S., Lavrov said.

Obama declined comment Tuesday morning when asked about the allegations, referring all questions to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Canadian citizenship claims

Along with Metsos, the defendants known as Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley also claim to be born in Canada, while Patricia Mills claims to be a Canadian citizen, court papers filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York showed.

One of the alleged spies reportedly used the birth certificate of a Canadian infant who died in the 1960s, but it's not clear what documents supported the citizenship claims made by the other accused.

"Canada monitors national security concerns and is vigilant in protecting against any threats," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews office said in a statement Tuesday, adding that the Canada Border Services Agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP "continue to play a strong role in protecting Canada's borders."

"We are always looking for new ways to strengthen our mutual safety and security. We must continue to remain vigilant," the statement said, referring further queries to CSIS.

CSIS was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Multi-year investigation

The case was the result of a multi-year, multi-city investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Justice Department.

FBI offices in Seattle, Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C., used "a tremendous array of surveillance techniques" including video surveillance of public spaces, interception of point-to-point laptop communication, audio and video surveillance of the suspects in their homes and tracking devices on the suspects' automobiles, according to Paul Joyal, an American security analyst.

They also used a "false flag," or an undercover Russian-speaking FBI agent who posed as a Russian intelligence officer, Joyal told CBC News.

"What's amazing to me is that this operation had ... been engaged in a good 10 years plus, and that the security, the operational security, was maintained," he said.

What sparked the investigation is not yet clear.

'Like peeling an onion back'

"In espionage cases, it's like peeling an onion back," said Fred Burton, a former special agent with the U.S. State Department. Burton is now a security expert at Stratfor, an intelligence company based in Austin, Texas. "You very rarely get to the origin of what tipped off the FBI to begin with."

The FBI alleges the accused spied for Russia for several years — posing as civilians while trying to infiltrate U.S. policy-making circles and learn about U.S. weapons, diplomatic strategy and politics.

All 11 people face charges of conspiracy to act as unregistered agents of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. government. If convicted, they could face five years in prison.

Most were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The arrests come after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama met at the White House last week.
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