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A Russian spy ring broken up by the US in June was detected with the help of a Russian intelligence agent whose daughter lives in the US, the Kommersant newspaper reported Thursday. The respected business daily identified the Russian accomplice as Shcherbakov, a colonel with the Russian foreign intelligence service whose job was to plant civilian moles in the US, similar to those found in the deep-cover spy ring dismantled by Washington. He fled Russia for the US just three days prior to President Dmitry Medvedev's June visit to Washington, the daily reported. The paper cited sources as saying that Shcherbakov's son also quit his post with the Russian drug control agency and fled to the US shortly before Washington revealed the spy ring that month. His daughter was a long-term resident of the US, the paper said, without providing further details. "It seems odd that no one bothered to check why a person of that rank has a daughter living in the US," Kommersant quoted an unnamed intelligence source as saying. Shcherbakov himself turned down an important promotion last year, suggesting that he had already been working with Washington, the paper said. The group of 10 spies returned to Russia in a July spy swap. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin already denounced the then-unnamed Russian collaborator as someone whose life will end "with boozing or drugs," Kommersant said. The Russian foreign intelligence agency was not immediately available for comment. But the Kommersant report quoted a source as saying that the agency was continuing to investigate "loads" of former and current intelligence employees for potential links with the US. AFP |
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