Russia spy agency claims CIA agent arrested for trying to recruit Russian agent in Moscow.

 

Russia seizes 'CIA agent in Moscow': US diplomat arrested on suspicion of spying

• US diplomat named as Ryan Christopher Fogle was arrested last night.
• Russia claim he was attempting to recruit a Russian secret services official.
• US ambassador to be summoned to Russian foreign ministry to explain.
• Photos of his belongings show he was in possession of two wigs, three pairs of sunglasses, a microphone, knife and a substantial amount of money.

 

 

 

Russia today claimed to have arrested a US diplomat in Moscow on suspicion of spying.
The FSB counter intelligence service claimed it caught Ryan Christopher Fogle red handed seeking to recruit a Russian intelligence officer.
It said the envoy, a third secretary in the political section of the American embassy, was arrested overnight - it did not say which service the target was from or what stage the matter had reached.
Pictures released after the US diplomat's arrest show he was in possession of two wigs, three pairs of sunglasses, a microphone, knife and a substantial amount of money.

 

Arrested: The US diplomat - suspected by the Russian of being a CIA agent - was named as Ryan Christopher
 Fogle. He was arrested last night in Moscow

 

 

Claims: The FSB counter intelligence service said the envoy, a third secretary
in the political section of the American embassy was caught
red handed seeking to recruit a Russian intelligence officer

 

Stash: He was detained with 'special technical devices, written instructions for the person
he was recruiting, a lot of cash, and things to help change one's appearance,' according to the FSB


 

Mission: The website of the American embassy in Russia informs that its
Political Section is engaged in 'bringing to the attention of the Russian government the
 US position on the issues of foreign policy and security'
 



Questions: Pictures of items seized were released of the US
 diplomat undergoing questioning inside the offices of the FSB,
formerly known in Soviet times as the KGB

 

Russia's security services claimed Tuesday to have arrested a CIA agent posing as an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian secret service agent to work for the U.S.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had detained a man identified as Ryan Christopher Fogle on the evening of May 13 or early the next morning for attempting to recruit a Russian agent.

The U.S. Embassy would not comment on the reports when contacted Tuesday morning by CBS News.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a statement from the FSB as saying Fogle was arrested while trying to recruit a member of the Russian security services, and he had on his person, "special technical devices, written instructions for the Russian citizen being recruited, a large sum of cash and means of changing his appearance."

After being arrested and processed by Russian security services, the man was handed back to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Moscow.

The purported Russian-issued diplomatic ID card of a U.S. man identified by Russian

security services as Ryan Christopher Fogle. / RT

The FSB said Fogle had been masquerading as a career diplomat at the Political Section of the U.S. Embassy, but that he was a CIA employee. A photo provided by the FSB and published across Russian media allegedly showed his Russian-issued diplomatic identification card.

Also published was a picture apparently showing the moment the man was arrested -- a man with shoulder-length blonde hair being pinned on the ground by Russian agents.



A photo published by "Russia Today" shows an alleged CIA agent

identified by Russian security services as Ryan Christopher Fogle

 sitting in custody in Moscow, May 14, 2013./ RT

Another photo showed the same man, but with short brown hair, sitting at a desk -- apparently in custody. On a table nearby there was the backpack the man had been pictured carrying and a blonde wig.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed to CBS News that U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul had been summoned to the Ministry over the incident. An official at the Ministry said they had not yet heard back from the Embassy regarding the summons.

Pictures were released of the US diplomat undergoing questioning inside the offices of the FSB, formerly known in Soviet times as the KGB.
It is unclear whether the US will retaliate by expelling a Russian diplomat.




Past: Three years ago, Russian spy Anna Chapman -
a glamorous SVR foreign intelligence operative was
 arrested in the US and deported

Ambassador Michael McFaul, who was doing a question-and-answer session on Twitter when the detention was announced, declined to comment.He is to be summoned to the Russian foreign ministry tomorrow for an explanation of the diplomat's alleged undercover activities.
The incident comes on the eve of talks in Sweden between US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
The two countries are seeking to improve relations but a spy scandal is likely to have the opposite impact.
Three years ago, Russian spy Anna Chapman - a glamorous SVR foreign intelligence operative who had been married to a British ex-public schoolboy - was arrested with nine others in the US.
After confessing to working as 'illegal agents' - who did not have diplomatic cover - the group were deported in a Cold War style spy swap.
The website of the American embassy in Russia informs that its Political Section is engaged in 'bringing to the attention of the Russian government the US position on the issues of foreign policy and security'.
The section's duty is also to 'inform Washington about the main provisions of the foreign and defence policy of Russia' as well as Russian domestic political life.

'The US embassy is not giving any comments on this matter,' a spokeswoman told Mail Online.