Moscow accuses U.S. citizen, Russian of spying

April 5, 2000
Web posted at: 4:39 p.m. EDT (2039 GMT)

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WASHINGTON -- A U.S. citizen suspected by Russia of espionage -- and who was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service -- appears to be in good health and believes the matter will be resolved soon, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

In Moscow's second arrest of a U.S. citizen in six months on allegations of spying, the security agency, known by its Russian acronym as FSB, said it had arrested an American and a Russian accomplice on Wednesday for suspected spying.

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"The citizen appeared to be in good health and made no complaints of mistreatment, and he indicated that he expects this matter to be resolved in a short time," State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters in Washington after speaking to U.S. consular officials in Moscow.

"No formal charges have been made, but the authorities have advised that he is presently under investigation for violation of Article 276 of the Russian criminal code, which pertains to espionage," Rubin said. Rubin and a spokesman for the Russian security agency refused to reveal the name of the man.

The man had a lawyer, appointed by the Russian authorities, Rubin said. The Russians arranged a consular visit, and the chief of the U.S. Embassy's American Citizen Services Section saw the man Wednesday.

The State Department said that because of Privacy Act issues, it was unable to provide any more information about the allegations.

The detained citizen is a manager of a private company and "a career intelligence officer," according to the Russian security service.

The Russian citizen -- a specialist in defense developments at a Moscow organization -- was taken into custody on the same charges. He was characterized as an accomplice and was charged with "exposing top secret materials endangering Russia's national security," the FSB said.

The security service said the American and the Russian were arrested in Moscow and that searches turned up evidence of a spy ring.

The FSB said it had accumulated numerous top-secret blueprints as well as tape recordings of conversations between the arrested U.S. citizen and Russian defense experts from different parts of Russia.

An FSB statement released later said a search of the American's belongings had revealed that "the foreigner intentionally developed contacts with Russian scientists in Moscow, Novosibirsk and other cities of our country with the goal of gathering state secrets of Russia."

An official at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it was embassy policy not to comment on such matters. A spokesman at the American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow said his organization had no information on the detention.

In the last arrest of a U.S. citizen on spying charges, a U.S. diplomat, Cheri Leberknight, left Russia late last year after she was detained and accused of being a CIA agent.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have been troubled by U.S. criticism of the war in Chechnya, Russia's opposition to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and recent claims of spying by both sides.

Russia has detained dozens of foreigners and Russians in the past two years on spying charges. Most of the foreigners were expelled, but several Russians face treason trials on charges of spying for the West.

Several Russian diplomats have been accused of spying in Western nations. The United States ordered Russian diplomat Stanislav Gusev to leave the country after he was allegedly caught eavesdropping on the U.S. State Department with the help of an electronic bug planted inside the building.

Producer Alexey Mayorov, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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