US, Russia plan spy prisoner swap

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Russia and the United States are planning a dramatic Cold War-style prisoner exchange that would free members of the alleged Kremlin spy ring for a Russian detainee, a lawyer claimed Wednesday.

Russian lawyer Anna Stavitskaya said her client Igor Sutyagin, jailed in 2004 on charges of spying for the United States, had been told he would be released as part of the swap.

There was no confirmation or denial from any Russian official of the claim, which came as it was announced cases of some of the alleged Kremlin agents detained in the United States were being sent to New York.

"He is going to be exchanged for the people who are being accused of espionage in the United States," Stavitskaya told a news conference."

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5 suspects in Russia spy case to be moved to NY

<snip>

"Five suspects in the Russia spy case were hastily ordered to New York on Wednesday amid reports that the U.S. and Russia are arranging a spy swap.

The third-ranking U.S. diplomat, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, a former American ambassador to Moscow, had a Wednesday morning meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at Kislyak's residence. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Burns and Kislyak did talk about the spy case but their main purpose was to review Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's recent visit to this country.

Toner refused to provide further details and referred questions about a possible swap to the Justice Department, where spokesman Dean Boyd also declined to comment.

A scheduled court hearing in Alexandria, Va., for Michael Zottoli, Patricia Mills and Mikhail Semenko was canceled and the trio was ordered to New York where the cases against 10 of the 11 defendants will now be handled. The 11th defendant, Christopher Metsos, has fled after being released on bail in Cyprus.

In Boston, defendants Donald Heathfield and his wife, Tracey Lee Ann Foley, of Cambridge, Mass., waived their right to identity and detention hearings there and were being sent to New York as well.

The other five defendants were already in custody in New York."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g1RNnrOT25HKGeiNBQMSaAkzrbigD9GQBR083

[Scurrilous]

1. Russia Is Said to Free Scientist in Exchange for Suspect

<snip>

"An advocate for an imprisoned Russian scientist, Igor V. Sutyagin, said Thursday that Mr. Sutyagin had evidently been removed from Russia in a cold war-style exchange for a Russian spy suspect, but conflicting reports made it impossible to confirm the information.

The advocate, Ernst Chyorny, said Mr. Sutyagin’s family had learned that he arrived in Vienna on Thursday afternoon, and that he was met there by a British officer. The report quickly spread through the Russian news media. But Vyacheslav A. Sutyagin, the scientist’s father, said that the information came from reporters in Vienna “who know that the swap has taken place” and that he had not heard directly from his son or from Russian officials.

"It’s all on the level of rumors; there is no official information,” the father, Vyacheslav Sutyagin, said. “We are waiting for a call from him, but I don’t know who may give him a phone, or the opportunity to give us a call.”

He added, “We can only guess that he is in Vienna,” and said that there was a “high level of probability” that it was true."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/world/europe/09russia.html?src=mv