Poisoning Russian intelligence officer in Britain and Russian spies in the United States

4 March two people - an 66-year-old man and an 30-year-old woman - were taken to the hospital after they became ill in the mall of Salisbury (United Kingdom).

Фото: Depositphotos

Witnesses said they noticed a couple on a bench at the entrance to a store near 16: 00.

“The man moved his hands randomly, there was emptiness in his eyes. The girl buried her face in it, as if she had fallen asleep, apparently lost consciousness. To be honest, they were clearly out of their minds,” the witness said.

Doctors said that they had been poisoned by an unknown substance, the city authorities announced an emergency situation: the shopping center and some other areas of the city were cordoned off, experts carried out disinfection in protective suits there.

5 March revealed that one of the poisoned was Sergey Skripal - a former Russian military intelligence officer who was tried for espionage in Russia, and was exchanged for Russian spies discovered in the US in 2010, since then he has been living in the UK.

Neighbors said that the police arrived at Skrypal's house at about five o'clock in the evening and have not left since. They described Violin himself as a friendly person. According to them, a few years ago his wife died.

Both patients are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. The police said that it was not yet known what substance was the cause of their poisoning, as well as whether there was a crime.

Who is Sergey Skripal

Sergey Skripal was born in 1951 year. For a long time he served in the Main Intelligence Directorate, and then retired with the rank of colonel.

For several years he worked in the manager of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In December 2004, the FSB arrested Violin, accusing him of collaborating with British intelligence. On him brought the case for treason. The investigation concluded that Skripal was recruited back in 1995. The Russian authorities decided that even after the dismissal, the ex-intelligence officer continued to transmit secret data that he had obtained through his former colleagues.

Skripal admitted his guilt and in 2006, was sentenced by the Moscow District Military Court to 13 years in prison in a penal colony. He was deprived of all titles.

Fully his term Skripal not served. In July, 2010, his, as well as the scientist Igor Sutyagin and two more Russians convicted for treason - Alexander Zaporozhsky and Gennady Vasilenko - were exchanged for a group of Russian intelligence officers exposed in the United States. Among them were Major General of the SVR, Mikhail Vasenkov and Anna Chapman.

American intelligence agencies exposed Chapman and other Russian spies thanks to information from the ex-Colonel of the SVR, Alexander Poteev, who fled to the United States. Poteev led the US Department of Management "C" (illegal intelligence). In 2010, he surrendered a network of Russian intelligence officers to the US authorities.

Anna Chapman

Anna Chapman.
Photo: Wikipedia

The most popular among them was Anna Chapman - an uncovered agent of Russian intelligence, acting in the USA under the legend of an entrepreneur of Russian origin. In June, 2010 was arrested in the United States on charges that she did not inform the US authorities about her collaboration with a foreign government. 8 July 2010, Chapman pleaded guilty to illegal cooperation with Russia and was sent home with nine other defendants in this case in exchange for four Russian citizens previously accused of spying for the United States and the United Kingdom.

Regular family from New Jersey

Vladimir and Lydia Guriev.
Photo: FBI

Regular married couple Richard and Cynthia Murphy and their two daughters lived in a beige two-story house in Moncler, New Jersey. They led a normal life - carefully chose a school for their daughters and grew hydrangeas.

Neighbors knew that Cynthia worked as a financial planner for an accounting company in Manhattan, and Richard remained on the farm and raised 9-year-old Lisa and 11-year-old Kate.

The shocking truth surfaced in 2010, when the FBI searched the house of Murphy and found out that their real names are Vladimir and Lydia Guriev.

“You could tell me that they were Martians, and I would have been less surprised,” said Elizabeth Lapin, a poetry professor who lived in a nearby house.

Since 1990-ies, the Guryevs have been collecting information for the Russian foreign intelligence service. 27 June 2010, the FBI arrested the Guryevs.

Neighbors say that the Guryev family was not too socially active, but they sometimes attended local city holidays and were quite benevolent. They were hard to suspect that they were not Americans, much less spies.

How were they caught?

At the beginning of 2000, the FBI and the CIA had information that spies from the Russian intelligence service were working in the United States. The operation, called the "Illegals", was launched before the end of the Cold War. And under the cover of American intelligence services, the Russians who had been working under the cover for quite a long time came when Bill Clinton was still the president of the United States. They conducted surveillance of the Guryevs, and also somehow conducted a secret search in their house. Employees of the FBI reported that the Guryevs did their best to integrate into American society and did not even speak Russian at home.

In 2009, Lydia made connections in the financial circles of New York to get information about the global gold market. Tried to make friends with Alan Patricof, an investor specializing in ventures. The couple’s responsibilities also included collecting information about US policy in Afghanistan, Iran’s nuclear program, and the latest agreement on reducing strategic offensive arms.

In the end, the FBI was able to crack the cipher that the spies used to communicate with Moscow, and found out about their secret activities. In 2009, the American special services were able to make a video showing how Vladimir met with one of the Russian officials. The authorities decided it was time to arrest the espionage nest.

What happened to the kids?

After the exchange in 2010, the couple’s daughters Kate and Lisa, born in the United States, were returned to their parents in Russia. US Attorney General Eric Holder said the Guryev children and all other children of Russian agents had been "repatriated."

What happened to the spy house?

The house of spies confiscated by the American authorities, whose images inspired the authors of the television series Americans, was put up for sale for 444 900 dollars. The house has four bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, an upgraded kitchen and a backyard. The house was built in 1950 year. The Guryevs / Murphy had a total of three properties at different addresses - in New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York. The fate of the other two houses is unknown.

The life of spy kids after “repatriation”

After US citizens Donald Heathfield and his wife Tracy Foley were exposed by FBI agents, not only the life of the agents themselves, but also their sons, Tim and Alex, have changed.

The special group raid day - 7 June 2010 of the year - coincided with Tim's 20 birthday, which he celebrated not far from his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Shortly after the guys returned home, a group of black-clad armed men rushed in with a shout of “FBI!”, After which they were handcuffed to their parents and taken away in different cars.

To the shocked brothers, an FBI official said that parents were arrested on suspicion of being illegal agents of a foreign government.

Alex, the youngest of the brothers, suggested that there was some kind of mistake, perhaps the FBI representatives entered the wrong house, or there was confusion because of his father’s consulting work.

Donald Heathfield, who studied in Paris and Harvard, at that time worked as a senior employee of a consulting firm in Boston. Their mother, Tracy Foley, was engaged in raising her children for a long time, and then began working as a real estate agent.

The brothers were born in Canada, but at that time 10 had lived in the USA for years. Acquaintances considered Hitfield-Foley to be an ordinary American family, albeit with Canadian roots and attraction to foreign travel.

New Names

However, a few days later, the brothers heard on the radio that the FBI had uncovered the 10 Russian agents, and it soon became clear that the real names of their parents, Andrei Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova.

The names of Donald Heathfield and Tracy Foley belonged to Canadians who died in childhood many years ago. Their identities were stolen and used by the brothers' parents.

Both were born in the USSR and underwent training in the KGB, after which they went abroad on the program of introducing deeply disguised secret agents, known in Russia as “illegals.” They and eight other agents, including Anna Chapman, were handed over to the American authorities by a Russian spy defector.

After reaching an exchange agreement, Alex and Tim also waited for a long trip to Russia, and almost 6 years later, after a memorable raid by the FBI, a British newspaper correspondent Guardian met in Moscow with Alex, now officially named Alexander Vavilov, and his brother Timofey Vavilov.

Alex can already order a Russian dinner, but he cannot speak fluently yet. He studies in Europe and came to Moscow to his parents. Tim works as a financier in Asia, and in the interests of protecting privacy, the brothers asked not to disclose details of their studies and work.

In addition, the brothers are in legal litigation for the restoration of Canadian citizenship, which they were deprived of after the arrest of their parents. The brothers believe that this is unjust and illegal.

Moving to Russia

During the FBI raid, as Alex recalls, they seized all computers, mobile phones, photos, and more. All bank accounts of the family were frozen, and the brothers only had cash in their pockets.

The mother, with whom they were able to meet in prison, ordered her sons to go to Moscow, although they had never been to Russia before. At the airport, the brothers were met by several people who called themselves colleagues of their parents and asked the brothers to trust them.

“They showed us photographs of parents in their youth, who wore uniforms and medals. At that moment I realized that it was true. Until then, I refused to believe the charges were fair, ”said Alex.

In Russia, the brothers met with their uncle and cousin, whose existence had not previously been suspected, and also with their grandmother.

Alex and Tim say they don’t feel much discomfort when they talk about their experiences, but they don’t rejoice in it either. The brothers doubt that parents were once going to tell them about their true personalities.

In 2010, spies were met in Russia as heroes. First they were interviewed at the SVR headquarters, and then Bezrukov, Vavilova and the rest met with President Dmitry Medvedev, who presented them with medals for service.

Identity crisis

Tim replied that they sometimes meet with other spy families, although he and Alex were the only teenagers among these families. Of the four married couples detained, one had two small children, and the other had older sons.

Tim and Alex received Russian passports at the end of December 2010. Unexpectedly, they turned out to be Timofey and Alexander Vavilov.

“The names were completely new, alien and impenetrable. The real identity crisis, ”said Tim.

Unable to return to the university where he enrolled, Tim transferred to a Russian university and graduated from it, and then graduated from the MBA in London.

Alex completed his secondary education at the British International School in Moscow. He did not want to stay in Russia and applied to a Canadian university, but he was told that he must first obtain a new Canadian birth certificate, then apply for citizenship, and only after that would he be able to renew his Canadian passport.

In 2012, he entered the University of Toronto and applied for a four-year student visa on a Russian passport. He was issued a visa, and he was going on September 2 to go to Canada. But four days before his departure, when he collected his things and corresponded by e-mail with his future roommate, Alex was unexpectedly called from the Canadian embassy and called for an urgent interview.

The meeting was unpleasant. He was asked many questions about his parents and his life. A visa was canceled before his eyes, and he lost his place at the university. After that, he was denied a French and British visa. Alex entered the London School of Economics twice and did not get a visa twice. Tim often travels to Asia, where many countries maintain a visa-free regime with Russia.

Canadian identity

The brothers are fighting for the restoration of Canadian citizenship, not only for the convenience of travel. Moscow is not the most benevolent city to the new arrivals, and not one of the brothers feels Russian. Both are ready to work in Asia for the time being, but are interested in returning to Canada to create families there.

Their Canadian identity remains the last straw for which they clutch, having lost most of the past reality.

"I lived 20 for years, considering myself a Canadian, and I am still a Canadian, in this respect nothing has changed," Tim wrote in a statement to the court of Toronto. “I have nothing to do with Russia, I don’t speak their language, I don’t have friends there, I have never lived there for a long time and I don’t want to live there.”

Tim and Alex have been asking questions about themselves for several months and who they are and whether they should be angry with their parents. They do not want their childhood to determine their adult life.

Although they do not want to live in Russia, the brothers visit Moscow every few months to see their parents. Tim finds it sad that, although now he can finally spend time with his grandparents, the language barrier will not allow him to know them properly.

“By choosing this path, it’s very difficult for you to keep your family and keep everything together,” he said.

Alex said that sometimes he wondered why his parents decided to have children at all.

“They lived a normal life and made their choice. I am glad that they had something to believe in, but this meant that I would have nothing to do with the country for which they risked their lives. I would like the world not to punish me for their choices and actions. This will be completely unfair, ”Alex believes.

In the end, he came to the conclusion that his parents were the same people who raised him with love, and no matter what secrets they kept.

In addition to the 2010 spy scandal of the year, 5 years later, there was another equally loud process to expose Russian spies in the United States.

Spying through the bank

Photo: ice.gov

In 2015, the federal prosecutor's office of the Southern District of New York announced the exposure of the “Russian spy organization”, consisting of 39-year-old Yevgeny Buryakov, 40-year-old Igor Sporyshev and 27-year-old Viktor Sotoi. Buryakov, working in the Foreign Intelligence Service, was in New York as an employee of a Russian bank and was engaged in collecting intelligence information. The journalists immediately established that this was Vnesheconombank, whose representative office is located at No. 777 on Third Avenue, almost opposite the New York TASS bureau. The list of his employees includes the deputy representative of the bank Evgeny Evgenievich Buryakov.

Since he officially did not have a relationship with the Russian government, Buryakov could not visit the New York office of the SVR, located at one of the Russian facilities in Manhattan, and leave the collected information there. For this purpose, the staff of the SVR Sporyshev and Vodka who worked under the official roof were assigned to him.

From 22 in November 2010 of the year to 21 in November of 2014, Sporyshev served as trade representative of the Russian Federation in New York. From 13 December 2012 of the Year. Similar was the attache of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN. They have already left the United States and are outside of US jurisdiction.

As official representatives of Russia, they should not have been separately registered as its agents. But they had no right to collude with Buryakov and promote his activities as an unregistered agent of Russia in the United States.

In contrast, Buryakov remained in the United States and was arrested on January 26 2015 in the Bronx. Like 10, the Russians arrested in 2010, of which only Anna Chapman, Buryakov, Sporyshev and the Like were remembered by the public, were not accused of spying, but in collusion, during which Buryakov, in violation of the law, did not register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent, but two others he was assisted.

Sporyshev and Similar carried out communication between Buryakov and the Moscow center, using the equipment which was at them in residency. From March 2012 to the middle of 2014, the FBI carried out external and electronic surveillance of Buryakov and Sporyshev and recorded approximately 45 meetings between them, in part of which Buryakov handed over packets, magazines or sheets of paper to his colleague.

These meetings usually took place on the street, and not in the room where it would be easier to watch them.

Each meeting was preceded by a short telephone conversation between Buryakov and Sporyshev, in which one said to the other that he should give something to him. Usually a ticket, a book, a list, an umbrella, a hat or other prosaic item appeared.

As the prosecutor's office notes, the conversation about the ticket was never accompanied by a discussion of a sports match or a concert.

As can be seen from court documents, the FBI recorded conversations in the New York residency office of the SVR and secretly searched Buryakov’s computer in his bank.

Sporyshev and Vokhozhny not only received intelligence information from Buryakov, but also collected them themselves. In particular, they allegedly tried to recruit female students, graduates and graduate students of a New York university.

In the end, Buryakov was sentenced to 30 months of imprisonment and $ 10 000 fine. Buryakov whiskey on a deal with the prosecutor's office, pleading guilty of criminal conspiracy to work in the US as an agent of a foreign state, specifically the Russian Federation, without proper registration with the US Justice Department.

In return, the prosecution promised not to demand for Buryakova punishment of more than 2,5 years of imprisonment, although she could have asked for 5 years. In April 2017, after the completion of his sentence, he was deported to Russia.

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