By Bill Gertz and Benjamin Birnbaum - The Washington Times
The swap of 10 Russian agents for four prisoners was the largest prisoner transfer of its kind since the 1980s, when U.S. and Soviet bloc spies and agents were traded over the bridge separating the American sector of West Berlin from communist East Germany.
The United States and Russia carried out a major spy exchange echoing the past era of Cold War espionage Friday when 10 deep-cover Russian agents recently arrested by the FBI were exchanged at an airport in Vienna, Austria, for four people held by Moscow on spy charges.
The spy swap was the largest prisoner transfer of its kind since the 1980s, when U.S. and Soviet bloc spies and agents were traded over Berlin's Glienicke Bridge separating the American sector of West Berlin from communist East Germany.
Two planes -- one from New York's La Guardia airport and another from Moscow -- arrived in Vienna within minutes of each other, parked nose-to-tail at a remote section on the tarmac, then spent about an hour and a half before departing just as quickly, the Associated Press reported from Vienna.
The swap completed, a Russian Emergencies Ministry Yakovlvev Yak-42 plane left Vienna reportedly carrying the 10 people deported from the U.S. Shortly afterward, a maroon-and-white Boeing 767-200 that brought those agents in from New York took off, apparently with four Russians who had confessed to spying for the West, the AP reported. No information was immediately available as to the planes' destinations. But the Russian flight was thought to heading for Moscow, while the U.S. charter was likely flying to London.
The Justice Department announced the trade in a statement Thursday evening, saying the 10 Russian agents - all but one a Russian national - had pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to conspiracy to work as unregistered foreign agents. They were then ordered by a judge to be expelled from the country.
The deal came 12 days after the FBI rolled up a decade-long investigation by arresting the group of agents, called "illegals" because they posed as Americans and did not work under diplomatic immunity.
Court papers said the agents had been dispatched by Moscow to obtain U.S. secrets and to influence the U.S. government while posing as Americans in Washington, New York and Boston.
The spies were working for Russia's foreign intelligence service, known by its Russian acronym SVR - the successor to the Soviet KGB political police and intelligence service.
A senior Obama administration official who briefed reporters on the swap would not say when or where the actual transfer would take place but indicated it will be concluded over the next several days.
"We drove the terms of this arrangement," the senior official said, noting that law enforcement officials were mainly involved in the discussions.
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Note:
Does anyone think it strange that the Untied States releases TEN RUSSIAN SPIES immediately after the spies admit to their guilt?
Does anyone remember how the FBI has performed "sting" operations over the past year on Israeli Rabbis in New Jersey? The blood libel against the Rabbi's were proven to be lies, but the newspapers and media had performed their work of publishing the lies for days in both the Press and Media. Knowing full well that Obama's administration is not friendly towards Israel, was the purpose of the "sting" to embarrass Israel? No one countered the lies, once exposed, in the Press/Media - so to this day, most Americans are in the dark about the truth of the NJ Rabbi's.
Then, the FBI performs another "sting" on two Israeli scientists a few months back; and arrested one of the scientist's for supposedly being a "spy" for Israel.
So, here's something to ponder: "How is it that the Obama administration has or uses the FBI to entrap Israeli's working in the United States, publishes the news from here to China when an arrest is made; but when TEN RUSSIAN SPIES are caught red-handed (no sting necessary!), they are immediately shipped back to Russia (no jail sentences for these Russians; no news/Press/Media covering this story) ... without a peep ...?"
The United States is NOT in the habit of giving up actual spies - so, what's the real deal? That the spies may reveal national security information if there had been a trial? HA HA! The information has already been passed on to Russia, so that reasoning is no reason whatsoever for releasing TEN SPIES!
This story that has been sealed as quietly as possible, with only one news channel commenting on it, has to be the most bazaar story of the year! It is being used as a "footnote" in the news, when it should be one of the most published stories of the century - not since the Cold War, nothing of this scope has been discovered. And Russia is suppose to be our new ally of Obama's administration...HA HA HA! HA HA HA!
Oh yeah, right! HARDLY!
Bee Sting
