US -Russia Spy Swap: A big Exchange deal since Cold War
Two aircrafts - a US Jet and Russian Plane landed around the same time in Vienna airport, on Friday to complete the spy swap. The exchange deal will improve the US -Russia relations.
The US plane carried ten people who spied for Moscow in the US which includes Former Cambridge residents Donald H. Heathfield and Tracey L. A. Foley. They arrived at Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport on Friday. This can be considered as a biggest exchange since during the Cold War in 1986. The 10 defendants arrested last month for spy work pleaded guilty in a New York Court failing to register as foreign agents. Charged with money laundering, US Court released them on Friday .They agreed never to return without permission from the attorney general.
Russia also freed four individuals imprisoned for allegedly spying for the United States which includes the former head of the military technology and economics department at the Institute of the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences.A Russian nuclear weapons specialist Igor Sutyagin sentenced for 15 years imprisonment in April 2004 for sharing state secrets with U.S. military intelligence was also exchanged as per the deal. After admitting their crimes against the Russia, they revealed their true identity and appealed to the Russian president to free them.
It takes about one and a half hours to complete the deal in Vienna. According to Russian foreign ministry the deal is part of overall improvement of the US-Russian ties and giving them new dynamics.
The US plane carried ten people who spied for Moscow in the US which includes Former Cambridge residents Donald H. Heathfield and Tracey L. A. Foley. They arrived at Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport on Friday. This can be considered as a biggest exchange since during the Cold War in 1986. The 10 defendants arrested last month for spy work pleaded guilty in a New York Court failing to register as foreign agents. Charged with money laundering, US Court released them on Friday .They agreed never to return without permission from the attorney general.
Russia also freed four individuals imprisoned for allegedly spying for the United States which includes the former head of the military technology and economics department at the Institute of the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences.A Russian nuclear weapons specialist Igor Sutyagin sentenced for 15 years imprisonment in April 2004 for sharing state secrets with U.S. military intelligence was also exchanged as per the deal. After admitting their crimes against the Russia, they revealed their true identity and appealed to the Russian president to free them.
It takes about one and a half hours to complete the deal in Vienna. According to Russian foreign ministry the deal is part of overall improvement of the US-Russian ties and giving them new dynamics.
