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3 Russian Spy Suspects Face Arraignment in US Court

   VOA News 07 July 2010
   Alleged  Russian  spy  suspects Patricia Mills and Michael Zottoli are
   seated  (left  foreground)  in  court  before Magistrate Judge Theresa
   Buchanan.  Three  of  the  10 accused Russian spies held by the United
   States were ordered to stay in detention.

Photo: AFP

   Alleged  Russian  spy  suspects Patricia Mills and Michael Zottoli are
   seated  (left  foreground)  in  court  before Magistrate Judge Theresa
   Buchanan.  Three  of  the  10 accused Russian spies held by the United
   States  were  ordered to stay in detention, as prosecutors said two of
   them were the first to give up their true identities. Zottoli admitted
   his  true  name  was  Mikhail  Kutzik and that his real birth date was
   different  to  the  one  given under his cover, prosecutors said, with
   Mills confessing her real name to be Natalia Pereverzeva, 2 Jul 2010.

   Three  suspected  members of a Russian spy ring appear in U.S. federal
   court  Wednesday,  accused of operating in the United States on behalf
   of the Kremlin for more than a decade.
   Prosecutors  are  expected  to  present evidence against the suspects,
   whom   authorities   have   identified   as  Mikhail  Kutzik,  Natalia
   Pereverzeva  and Mikhail Semenko.  All three were living just outside
   Washington,  and  investigators  say Kutzik and Pereverzeva were using
   false identities.
   The three are among 10 suspects arrested last week in New York, Boston
   and   suburban   Washington   on  charges  of  conspiring  to  act  as
   unregistered  agents  of  a  foreign  government.   Six suspects have
   already been arraigned, and one has been granted bail.  None has been
   charged with the more serious offense of espionage.
   Relatives  of  a nuclear researcher jailed for espionage in Russia say
   authorities  there  have  raised the possibility he might be exchanged
   for the suspects in U.S. custody.
   Western  news  agency  reports  from Moscow say a potential swap would
   send  Igor  Sutyagin,  a scientist and Russian national, to Britain in
   exchange   for  the  U.S.  suspects.   The  Associated  Press  quotes
   Sutyagin's  brother  as  saying  his  brother told him of the proposal
   Tuesday,  after  Russian authorities visited the scientist at a prison
   near  the Russian city of Arkhangelsk. After that meeting Sutyagin was
   reportedly moved to a prison in Moscow.
   Sutyagin,  arrested by Russian authorities in 1999, says he was forced
   to  sign a confession saying he sold sensitive military information to
   a British consulting firm that allegedly acted as a front for the U.S.
   Central  Intelligence  Agency.   In his 2004 trial, Sutyagin said the
   information he provided was readily available on the Internet.
   The  New  York  Times  said  Wednesday  that  prosecutors  and defense
   attorneys  are discussing a deal that could lead to a quick resolution
   of the case.
   The  Times,  quoting  sources  close to the probe, says the resolution
   could  allow the defendants to plead guilty to charges carrying modest
   penalties, and could result in deportations allowing them to return to
   Russia.
   Neither  prosecutors  nor defense attorneys have commented publicly on
   the report.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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