EspionageNYC Russian spy ring busted

In a federal complaint unsealed Monday, prosecutors say that Russian spies used talk about books, or tickets for sporting events or concerts, as code words for conducting espionage against the United States. They usually met – as they did between 2012 and 2014 — outdoors to reduce the risks of surveillance. When they did meet, one man would hand a bag, a magazine, or a slip of paper to another.

On Monday in New York, law enforcement arrested one of the men, Evgeny Buryakov, 39, who posed as an employee in the New York City office of a Russian bank, according to the federal complaint.

The man he met regularly for the handoffs was Igor Sporyshev, 40, who worked as a trade representative for the Russian government in New York.

A 27-year-old man serving as an attache to Russia’s mission at the UN, Victor Podobnyy, was also alleged to have been part of the conspiracy.

CNN reports that the three men are accused of working for Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, the SVR.

Both Sporyshev and Podobnyy, who no longer live in the United States and have not been arrested, had diplomatic immunity, but Buryakov was operating under what officials called “non-official cover.”

Agents like that, referred to as “NOCs,” typically receive “less scrutiny by the host government, and, in many cases, are never identified as intelligence agents by the host government,” a statement from U.S. law enforcement authorities said.

“As a result, a NOC is an extremely valuable intelligence asset for the SVR,” the statement said.

U.S. authorities say that Buryakov relied on the other two men to get messages to and from the communications systems kept in the SVR’s office in New York. Since the office is under constant surveillance, and since he was undercover, he could not be seen near the office.

U.S. officials said the men were gathering intelligence related to possible U.S. sanctions on Russia and U.S. efforts to develop alternative energy resources.

The complaint said that Sporyshev and Podobnyy also tried to recruit U.S. citizens as intelligence sources in New York.

Their recruitment targets included people working for “major companies” and “young women with ties to a major university located in New York,” according to authorities.

In the papers unsealed in court, the FBI says in its complaint that its surveillance of the men heard them discussing various aspects of their work.