Global InformationIllegals Program information
| Illegals Program | |
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Ten Russian agents apprehended on June 27, 2010 |
The Illegals Program (so named by the United States Department of Justice) was a network of Russian sleeper agents under unofficial cover. An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) culminated in the arrest of ten agents on June 27, 2010, and a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States on July 9, 2010.[1]
The arrested spies were Russian nationals who had been planted in the U.S. by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (known by its Russian abbreviation, SVR), most of them using false identities.[2] Posing as ordinary American citizens, they tried to build contacts with academics, industrialists, and policymakers to gain access to intelligence. They were the target of a multi-year investigation by the FBI. The investigation, called Operation Ghost Stories, culminated at the end of June 2010 with the arrest of ten people in the U.S. and an eleventh in Cyprus.[2] The ten sleeper agents were charged with "carrying out long-term, 'deep-cover' assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation."[3][4][5]
The suspect arrested in Cyprus skipped bail the day after his arrest.[6] A twelfth person, a Russian national who worked for Microsoft, was also apprehended about the same time and deported on July 13, 2010.[7] Moscow court documents made public on June 27, 2011, revealed that another two Russian agents, who Russia alleges were known to the FBI, managed to flee the U.S. without being arrested.[8]
Ten of the agents were flown to Vienna on July 9, 2010, soon after pleading guilty to charges of failing to register as representatives of a foreign government. The same day, the agents were exchanged for four Russian nationals, three of whom had been convicted and imprisoned by Russia for espionage (high treason) on behalf of the US and UK.[9]
On October 31, 2011, the FBI publicly released several dozen still images, clips from surveillance video, and documents related to its investigation in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.[3][10]
- ^ "Ten Alleged Secret Agents Arrested in the United States". United States Department of Justice. June 28, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
- ^ a b "The Russian Spy Ring of 2010, The Use of Ciphers and Radio Messages". The NSRIC. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
- ^ a b "Operation Ghost Stories: Inside the Russian Spy Case Archived April 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine' (October 31, 2011). Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- ^ Ten Alleged Secret Agents Arrested in the United States Monday, June 28, 2010, United States Department of Justice official web site.
- ^ Shifrel, Scott; Kennedy, Helen; and Sherisan, Michael. "Russian spy ring: 11th suspect arrested in Cyprus; Moscow calls spy claims 'baseless and improper'", Daily News (New York), June 29, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
- ^ Staff. "Russian spy suspect missing in Cyprus, say police", BBC News, June 30, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
- ^ Markon, Jerry (July 14, 2010). "U.S. deports alleged 12th Russian spy". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Pot1999was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Russia, U.S. swap 14 in Cold War-style spy exchange", Reuters, July 9, 2010.
- ^ "FBI releases video, papers on Russian spy ring Archived May 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine" (October 31, 2011). Associated Press.