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Intrigue and Ambiguity in Cases of 4 Russians Sent to West in Spy Swap
The New York Times ^ | July 9, 2010 | By SCOTT SHANE and ELLEN BARRY

Posted on 07/09/2010 7:19:53 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

WASHINGTON — When Aleksandr Zaporozhsky, one of four Russians delivered to the West in this week’s spy swap, joins his family in the United States, it will be only the latest unexpected twist in a classic story of espionage and deception.

For several years in the 1990s, Mr. Zaporozhsky, a colonel in Russian intelligence who became deputy chief of the American Department, was secretly working for the C.I.A., one of the highest-ranking American moles in history, Russian prosecutors say.

After surprising his colleagues by retiring suddenly in 1997, he moved with his wife and three children to the United States and went into business. But in 2001, confident that his C.I.A. link was unsuspected, Mr. Zaporozhsky was lured back to Moscow by his former colleagues for what they promised would be a festive K.G.B. anniversary party. He was arrested at the airport, convicted of espionage and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

On Friday, Mr. Zaporozhsky was flown to Vienna and then to the Washington area for the 10-for-4 spy exchange that promises to bring to a swift conclusion the saga of the Russian spy ring exposed by the F.B.I. early last week.

His Moscow lawyer, Maria A. Veselova, said Friday that she “did not find any proof of his guilt” in her review. But circumstantial evidence suggests that he may well have provided valuable information to the United States and was well rewarded for doing so.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2010; 201007; aleksandrzaporozhsky; annachapman; cia; coldwar; elgindy; hansen; kgb; mariaaveselova; mueller; obamascandals; oops; prisonerswap; russia; russianspyring; spies; spooks; swap; veselova; zaporozhsky

1 posted on 07/09/2010 7:19:57 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: All
Related article:

Vienna Still a Spot for Cloak-and-Dagger Work

2 posted on 07/09/2010 7:27:44 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Marine_Uncle; SunkenCiv; onyx; NormsRevenge; Grampa Dave; Fred Nerks; SandRat

fyi


3 posted on 07/09/2010 7:36:01 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Do you think this exchange happened so quickly because the Russian spies knew something damaging about Obama? Like, who he really is, perhaps?


4 posted on 07/09/2010 9:06:23 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX
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To: Pining_4_TX
Or like who really sent all of that money that came from overseas to fund his election campaign? Did they know of a clear Soros-Russian connection?

Well, that's what I heard on the street.

5 posted on 07/09/2010 9:23:35 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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To: VanShuyten

Does this suggest that Obama is a Russian mole? There is certainly little enough known about him.


6 posted on 07/10/2010 4:12:08 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell (He is the son of soulless slavers, not the son of soulful slaves.)
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To: VanShuyten
Did they know of a clear Soros-Russian connection?

What connection? The Russians hate Soros with a passion.

7 posted on 07/10/2010 4:17:37 AM PDT by mac_truck ( Aide toi et dieu t aidera)
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To: mac_truck

Why do the Russians hate Soros w/ a passion?


8 posted on 07/10/2010 3:55:44 PM PDT by FreeStateYank (I want my country and constitution back, now!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Ambiguity in the article’s title seems to hold true. Who really won in the exchange is yet to be elaborated on. Perhaps there where no winners, only losers.


9 posted on 07/10/2010 5:03:25 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned....)
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To: FreeStateYank
Through his Open Society Institute (OSI), Soros has funded a number of the so-called color revolutions in former Soviet countries where Russia tries to maintain control/influence. Georgia and Ukrane are two that come to mind. OSI has also supported opposition party activities in Russia for years.

Soros tried to manipulate the Russian economy after the collapse of the old Soviet Union. With the rise of Putin and the war on the corrupt oligarchs Soros got sidelined. It one of the few times he's lost money investing.

I'd venture if the opportunity arose, the Russians would give Soros the sharp end of a poison umbrella.

10 posted on 07/10/2010 6:09:35 PM PDT by mac_truck ( Aide toi et dieu t aidera)
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To: mac_truck

‘I’d venture if the opportunity arose, the Russians would give Soros the sharp end of a poison umbrella.’

Go Pootie Poot.

So Soro’s and Putin are like two crime bosses fighting over turf?


11 posted on 07/10/2010 7:02:54 PM PDT by FreeStateYank (I want my country and constitution back, now!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

From writer Dan Simmons’s website:

http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=100552#Post100552

Dan Simmons comments:

My White Horse Souse, the Olde Lampwicke, my last contact in the U.S. intelligence community, tells me that the Russian spies were swapped so quickly that there was no serious interrogation of them, that different agencies weren’t allowed time to discover whom these espionage recruiters had recruited or what the recruits’ missions in the U.S. were, that there was no time to discover who their controllers were in the Kremlin, and — most disturbing (to the Olde Lampwicke and thus to me) — they were exchanged so quickly, without the usual trials and time in jail here, not because of the importance of the Russian nationals being held in Russia for “contacts with American intelligence officials” whom we got in exchange, and not because of fear that American intelligence methods would come out in a trial, but because Vladimir Putin, using a back channel, directly demanded that Obama immediately release these captured Russian spies — one of them a daughter of a former KGB higher-up turned diplomat who was a friend of Putin’s from his old KGB days.

According to my Souse, President Medvedev — our president’s yuck-it-up burger’n’fries pal — wasn’t even in the loop on this demand. The ultimatum (with serious ramifications concerning the Russians stalling the START treaty Obama is so eager to sign) went straight from Putin to Obama with a 24-hr. time period for compliance. Obama is reported to have complied within three hours.

I’ll be curious if any of the Olde Lampwicke’s Putin-related info about a secret ultimatum is confirmed by our news agencies. The frustration of many in the U.S. intelligence community over not being able to properly process the captured deep-cover sleeper agents has already been recorded here and there. (Although others tell CNN and MSNBC that there was no need to keep the Russian agents any longer.)

Either way, it seems to be a hell of a way to run a national intelligence effort.


12 posted on 07/11/2010 12:02:39 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Barack Obama, the Coleman Francis of presidents.)
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To: FreeStateYank

‘Why do the Russians hate Soros w/ a passion?’
Russians are conservatives mostly. They hate Soros for the same reason you do.


13 posted on 07/11/2010 6:27:46 AM PDT by cunning_fish
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To: Darkwolf377

bump


14 posted on 04/12/2019 7:14:32 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fedora; MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

Uranium too: Did the Clintons finagle a twofer, including a land-grab?[opinion]
3/1/2018, 10:05:26 PM · by huldah1776 · 14 replies
The Washington Examiner ^ | March 1, 2018 | William Perry Pendley
Most sapient Americans—those who are skeptical of the mainstream media—know the outrageous but largely unreported story that Bill and Hillary Clinton, with the help of Obama officials and over congressional experts’ objections, allowed Russia to gain control of 20 percent of America’s uranium supplies. What is unknown is whether the Clintons sweetened the deal for their Russian friends by engineering closure of a million federal acres of the nation’s best source of uranium. The “evidence” of such mischief is purely circumstantial, but it is disconcerting. Here is what we know, thanks to the reporting of the estimable Andrew C. McCarthy,...

Hillary Clinton Quickly Rushed TEN Russian Spies Back to Moscow Before FBI Could Question Them
10/20/2017, 8:06:07 PM · by blueyon · 69 replies
The Gateway Pundt ^ | 10/20/17 | Cristina Laila
All Russian roads lead to Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is neck deep in a Russian scandal involving bribery, kickbacks and extortion. FBI documents show that a Russian spy ring was simultaneously targeting her before and during her time as Secretary of State. The FBI arrested 10 Russian spies in June of 2010 and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quickly rushed them back to Moscow on a busy 4th of July weekend before the FBI was finished questioning them. Returning the spy ring to Moscow also prevented them from standing trial. Why???


15 posted on 05/27/2020 11:59:16 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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