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Russia Hints That Spy Case Won’t Disrupt Relations With U.S.
Despite Focus on Spectacle, Russia Hints Spy Case Won’t Disrupt U.S. Ties
(about 9 hours later)
MOSCOW — Senior Russian officials signaled on Wednesday that what they said was a failed effort by a Central Intelligence Agency officer to recruit a Russian security official as a spy would not disrupt the broader relationship between the two countries.
MOSCOW — Senior Russian and American officials said on Wednesday that they were prepared to put a bizarre spy case behind them, even as the episode remained a matter of intense fascination to the Russian news media and the public.
In Moscow, the American ambassador, Michael A. McFaul, appeared, as summoned, at a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was told once again about Russia’s outrage over the actions of the man Russia said was a C.I.A. officer, identified as Ryan C. Fogle, who was officially posted at the American Embassy as a political officer. Mr. Fogle was arrested on Monday night, and released to the embassy on Tuesday with orders that he leave the country as soon as possible.
In Moscow, the American ambassador, Michael A. McFaul, was summoned to a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was told once again about Russia’s outrage over what Russian officials depicted as a failed effort by a Central Intelligence Agency officer to recruit a Russian security official as a spy.
The Russian government took the unusual step of releasing a video showing Mr. Fogle being detained wearing a shaggy blond wig, as well as photographs of the gear that he carried to meet his recruit, including another wig, a compass and an atlas of Moscow, two pairs of sunglasses, and a pocketknife among other items.
The man Russia said was a C.I.A. officer, identified as Ryan C. Fogle, was officially posted at the American Embassy as a political officer. Mr. Fogle was arrested on Monday night, and released to the embassy on Tuesday with orders that he leave the country as soon as possible.
But Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, appeared together on Wednesday at the biennial meeting of the Arctic Council in Kiruna, Sweden, and seemed intent to not let the spy incident disrupt their efforts to organize a political settlement to the conflict in Syria. The two men met one on one on Tuesday night on the sidelines of the meetings in Sweden, and according to Mr. Lavrov, they did not discuss the spy case that erupted in Moscow.
The Russian government had taken the unusual step of releasing a video showing Mr. Fogle being detained wearing a shaggy blond wig, as well as photographs of the gear that he carried to meet his recruit, including another wig, a compass, an atlas of Moscow, two pairs of sunglasses and a pocketknife, among other items.
Mr. Kerry declined to comment directly when asked if the case undermined his efforts to forge a collaborative relationship with the Russians on broader issues, particularly on Syria. “I have nothing to add with respect to the situation regarding an embassy official in Moscow,” Mr. Kerry said, “and I am grateful to my friend Sergey Lavrov, the minister of Russia, for a very productive meeting yesterday in which we did the large business of our countries, which was, first of all, the challenge of Syria.”
On Wednesday, Russia’s First Channel, the main source of news for much of the country, broadcast at least two news segments about the case, include one featuring a cloak-and-dagger interview with an officer from the Russian Federal Security Service, the F.S.B., and excerpts from what it said was a recorded telephone conversation between Mr. Fogle and the Russian agent he was trying to recruit.
In a transcript of Mr. Lavrov’s remarks to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Lavrov said he felt no need to discuss the espionage case. “We have not discussed this topic,” he said. “John Kerry did not touch it, and I decided that talking about it would be redundant since all is already public knowledge, and all is clear.”
In the phone call, the man identified as Mr. Fogle pushes for a face-to-face meeting, saying it must take place immediately. “I think it’s worth meeting today,” he says. “It’s impossible tomorrow, it’s just only today. Well, it’s worth, as I said, you can earn $1 million a year, and I have $100,000 with me, but it should be now.”
The decision by the Russian government to create so much publicity around the spy arrest suggested that they were not particularly worried about Mr. Fogle’s activities. Had there been serious concern, intelligence experts said, Russian operatives would have sat back and let him believe that he had successfully recruited a Russian agent, and then used the opportunity to learn about the C.I.A.'s particular interests.
The First Channel, which is closely connected to the Russian government, reported that Mr. Fogle met his recruit in a residential area adjacent to a park, and that officers hung back, allowing him to make contact with the recruit before seizing him.
Instead, the Kremlin, clearly reveling in an opportunity to embarrass the Americans, cut the spycraft short and turned Mr. Fogle’s arrest into a spectacle. The decision to handle it publicly may have been partly in revenge for the arrests in the United States in 2010 of 10 Russian “sleeper” agents who had been posing as Americans for a decade but had not yet sent home any classified information by the time they were caught and expelled as part of a spy swap.
The channel also broadcast an interview with the F.S.B. agent, shown in silhouette, with his voice electronically disguised, who said that the recruit sought by the C.I.A. “was a combat officer who has more than once taken part in the counterterrorist operations in the North Caucasus and has a very serious combat training himself.”
In a statement issued Wednesday morning, after the meeting between Mr. McFaul and a deputy foreign minister, Sergei A. Ryabkov, the Russian Foreign Ministry hinted that Russia was prepared to move past the incident. The statement said that Mr. Ryabkov had “protested an attempt to recruit an employee of one of the Russian secret services” by the C.I.A. and noted that Mr. Fogle had been arrested “red-handed” and officially declared a “persona non grata” and that he must leave Russia in the shortest possible time.
The F.SB. agent told First Channel that Mr. Fogle had been under surveillance since his arrival in Moscow in the spring of 2011, and said the agency had become fed up with efforts by the C.I.A. to recruit Russian spies.
The statement went on to say, however, that “in addition, there was a discussion of questions related to the widening legal basis of bilateral relations” and they “addressed several aspects of the current international agenda” – a clear indication that officials at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow considered the spy incident largely finished.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, appeared together on Wednesday at the biennial meeting of the Arctic Council in Kiruna, Sweden, and seemed intent not to let the spy episode disrupt their efforts to organize a political settlement to the conflict in Syria. The two men met one on one on Tuesday night on the sidelines of the meetings in Sweden and, according to Mr. Lavrov, they did not discuss the spy case that erupted in Moscow.
The Foreign Ministry’s statement made no mention of any additional demands by the Russian government for the expulsion of other officials at the American Embassy, which is one retaliatory step that governments take in such circumstances. The embassy did not issue any comment. It was also not clear if Mr. Fogle, who was arrested on Monday night and turned over to the embassy on Tuesday, was still in Russia or had already left the country.
Mr. Kerry declined to comment directly when asked if the case had undermined his efforts to forge a collaborative relationship with the Russians on broader issues, particularly on Syria. “I have nothing to add with respect to the situation regarding an embassy official in Moscow,” Mr. Kerry said, “and I am grateful to my friend Sergey Lavrov, the minister of Russia, for a very productive meeting yesterday in which we did the large business of our countries, which was, first of all, the challenge of Syria.”
At the same time, some senior Russian officials continued to express surprise at what appeared to be such a fumbling operation by the American intelligence agency. “To put it mildly, it’s surprising that this extremely crude, clumsy attempt at recruitment took place in a situation where both President Obama and President Putin have clearly stated the importance of more active cooperation and contacts between the special services of the two countries,” an aide to Mr. Putin, Yury Ushakov told Russian journalists in Sochi.
The decision by the Russian government to create so much publicity around the spy arrest suggested that it was done more for domestic consumption than out of any worries about Mr. Fogle’s activities. Had there been serious concern, intelligence experts said, Russian operatives would have sat back and let Mr. Fogle believe that he had successfully recruited a Russian agent, and then used the opportunity to learn about the C.I.A.’s particular interests.
Russian officials have indicated that the agent being recruited by the C.I.A. was a counterterrorism officer with expertise in the Caucasus, a region that has become of intense interest to the United States because the two men accused of bombing the Boston Marathon had lived there. One of the suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed by the police, had returned to Dagestan, combustible region in the North Caucasus, for six months last year and had contacts with Muslim militants, Russian officials said.
Instead, the Kremlin cut the spycraft short and turned Mr. Fogle’s arrest into a spectacle. The decision to handle it publicly may also have been partly in revenge for the arrests in the United States in 2010 of 10 Russian “sleeper” agents who had been posing as Americans for a decade but had not yet sent home any classified information by the time they were caught.
Despite some of the ridicule directed at the C.I.A. for its operative being caught with such low-tech gear, experts on spycraft said that there were good explanations for the items Mr. Fogle had been carrying. An old-fashioned compass, for instance, provides help with directions but unlike an iPhone, which offers an electronic compass and a map application, the compass cannot be tracked. And a simple wig can help avoid detection by the numerous traffic, security, and other surveillance cameras that are now ubiquitous across modern cities, including the Russian capital.
Despite some of the ridicule directed at the C.I.A. for its operative’s being caught with such low-tech gear, experts on spycraft said that there were good explanations for the items Mr. Fogle had been carrying. An old-fashioned compass, for instance, provides help with directions and, unlike an iPhone, cannot be tracked. A simple wig can help avoid detection by the numerous traffic, security and other surveillance cameras that are now ubiquitous across modern cities, including the Russian capital.
David M. Herszenhorn reported from Moscow, and Steven Lee Myers from Kiruna, Sweden.
David M. Herszenhorn reported from Moscow, and Steven Lee Myers from Kiruna, Sweden.
