FBI's Russian spy ring claims are 'contradictory'

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Five of the alleged members of the Russian spy ring appeared in a New York courtroom yesterday. Photograph: Shireley Shepard/AFP/Getty

Russia today said it was investigating the arrest by the FBI of 10 alleged spies who were part of a "long term, deep cover" network of agents and spent years adopting American identities and gathering intelligence.

In its first reaction to the scandal, Russia's foreign ministry this morning described as "contradictory" FBI claims that the Russian spies had sought out sensitive information on nuclear weapons, the gold market and even personnel changes at the CIA.

"They have not explained anything to us. I hope they will do so. The moment when all this was done was chosen quite smartly," the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said at a news conference today, according to Interfax news agency.

Five of the suspects briefly appeared in a Manhattan federal court yesterday, where a judge ordered them to remain in prison until a preliminary hearing set for 27 July.

The FBI said that the deep cover agents were called "illegals" by Moscow, and that they adopted Americanised names as part of their efforts to blend in and make connections to thinktanks and government officials.

Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency was today tight-lipped about the arrests. "We refuse to comment on these reports," the agency's spokesman, Sergei Ivanov, said.

But in an indictment that might have been taken from the plot of a cold war thriller, the FBI alleges that the SVR sent spies to live in the US under false names, with the intent of becoming so Americanised they could build relationships with sources and gather information without raising suspicion. Some of the agents lived as married couples and had children who have grown up as Americans – unaware that their parents are Russian.

The FBI alleges that the accused spies were able to get close to a scientist working with "bunker-buster" nuclear bombs and a New York financier with powerful political ties. But the intercepts do not suggest they were successful at uncovering valuable information and some of the exchanges with Moscow appear almost laughable in their simplicity, including advice to one agent to "build up, little by little, relations" with the financier.

The arrests follow a reset in relations between Washington and Moscow, which soured during the Bush era, and comes just days after a successful visit by Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, to the US. The Kremlin will now be weighing its response. Hardliners will call for punitive measures including tit-for-tat expulsions, but more pragmatic voices will hope the episode can be ignored and quickly forgotten.

The suspects include a couple known as Richard and Cynthia Murphy, who were arrested in New Jersey, Vicky Pelaez and a man who went by the name of Juan Lazaro, who were arrested in Yonkers, New York state, and Anna Chapman, who was arrested in Manhattan.

Another three – Mikhail Semenko and a couple operating under the names Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills – appeared in a court in Alexandria, Virginia, after being arrested in Arlington, close to the Pentagon and CIA headquarters.

A couple called Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley were also arrested in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

According to the US justice department, an 11th alleged spy, a man operating under the name of Christopher R Metsos, remains at large and is wanted by the FBI, accused of organising the financing of the group.

An intercepted message from the SVR to two of the alleged spies outlined their mission. "You were sent to USA for long-term service trip. Your education, your bank accounts, car, house, etc – all these serve one goal: fulfil your main mission, ie to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US and send intels [intelligence reports] to C [Centre]," said an intercepted message, according to the indictment.

The FBI described the "illegals" as being paired in Russia "so that they can live together and work together in a host country, under the guise of a married couple. Illegals who are placed together and cohabit in the country to which they are assigned will often have children together".

According to the indictment, members of the spy ring reported back to Moscow in 2004 that they were able to get close to an American who the Russian agents described as involved in "strategic planning related to nuclear weapon development" and "had conversations with him about research programmes on small yield high penetration nuclear warheads recently authorised by US Congress [nuclear 'bunker-buster' warheads]".

One of the alleged spies, named as Cynthia Murphy, built a relationship with a man described as a prominent New York-based financier active in politics. Moscow responded that he was a very interesting target because he might be able to provide information about foreign policy and discussions among the president's closest aides.

The SVR also urged its agents to collect information on US positions on arms talks, Iran's nuclear programme and Afghanistan in advance of Barack Obama's visit to Russia last year. Moscow also sought information about personnel turnover at the top of the CIA and the 2008 presidential election.

The indictment says the alleged spies used a number of methods to communicate with the SVR, including unique wireless networks to transfer encrypted data. One of the wireless networks was run from a van in New York that on one occasion parked outside a coffee shop where one of the accused, named as Anna Chapman, was sitting. The FBI said it observed as she established a connection with the wireless link in the van and transmitted data. A few weeks later she did the same from a bookshop.

The FBI said it also observed a car with diplomatic plates registered to the Russian government park outside a Washington DC restaurant where another alleged spy, named as Mikhail Semenko, used a computer to establish a connection with a wireless signal from the car.

Other information was passed by posting pictures on the internet that had text buried in them, as well as long established techniques such as drops and "brush pasts" in local parks.

Relations between the alleged spies and their handlers were not always cordial as the "illegals" took to the American way of life.

In one intercepted message, Richard and Cynthia Murphy, who arrived in the US in the mid-1990s, decided to buy a house in New Jersey. That did not go down well at Moscow centre.

"We are under the impression that C views our ownership of the house as a deviation from the original purpose of our mission here," they said in an intercepted message. "We'd like to assure you that we do remember what it is. From our perspective, purchase of the house was solely a natural progression of our prolonged stay here. It was a convenient way to solve the housing issue, plus to 'do as the Romans do' in a society that values home ownership."

Each of the 10 has been charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. They face up to five years in prison if convicted, although it is possible that more serious charges will be added.

The alleged spies are also accused of money laundering.

FBI's Russian spy ring claims are 'contradictory' | World news | guardian.co.uk