Russia Captures Alleged American CIA Agent In Moscow

wiredmikey tips this AFP report: "Russia on Tuesday said it had detained an alleged American CIA agent working undercover at the U.S. embassy who was discovered with a large stash of money as he was trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB, ex-KGB) identified the man as Ryan C. Fogle — third secretary of the political section of Washington's embassy in Moscow — and said he had been handed back to the embassy after his detention. Photographs published show his alleged espionage equipment including wigs, a compass, torch and even a mundane atlas of Moscow as well as a somewhat old fashioned mobile phone. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said Fogle was carrying 'special technical equipment, written instructions for recruiting a Russian citizen, a large sum of money and means for changing a person's appearance.' The FSB also said the U.S. intelligence service has made repeated attempts to recruit the staff of Russian law enforcement agencies and special services. The incident comes amid a new chill in Russian-U.S. relations sparked by the Syrian crisis and concern in Washington over what it sees as President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on human rights."

Meh

[cold fjord]

Turnabout is fair play.

How the FBI Busted Anna Chapman and the Russian Spy Ring [go.com]

No surprise - Putin has been trying to drag the US - Russian relationship back to Cold War times. He has become much more provocative with military probes around US territory, and has been dismissive of US diplomats. Apparently it plays well in Russia.

It looks like he is getting his wish. So much for the "reset" in relations.

   

yeah.

[Anonymous Coward]

concern in Washington over what it sees as President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on human rights."

Coming from the US with its imprisoning of more people (by absolute numbers and percentage of population) than any other country in the world. Indefinite detention, torture, summary execution. Yeah. The US has credibility when it comes to human rights.

Re:Amateur

[Charliemopps]

You're assuming that:
A. Our federal government isn't totally fucking retarded.
B. Our federal government follows any of their own rules/laws/policies.
Both of which have been proven about as false as possible after this past week.
I've always wondered if our government was actually bad... or just inept boobs. You know, never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence... color me surprised to find out they are both malicious AND incompetent.

Re:yeah.

[cusco]

If they were actually considered POWs they would have to be accorded certain treatments, like visits from the Red Cross, decent treatment, freedom from torture, notification of their detention to family, and the like. Instead the Shrub Madministration invented a new and completely internationally unrecognized category of "illegal combatant" and pretended as though the Geneva Conventions don't apply to them. Even worse, the current administration continues with the farce, even though they acknowledged that it was actually illegal.

How blinded are you? What do you think the purpose of the Black Sites is, lovely vacation sites? You're too late, the previous administration would have paid you for posting nonsense like this, I think this one just relies on volunteers.

BFD

[CapOblivious2010]

I really don't understand all the outrage about spying. OF COURSE the CIA is spying on Russia - it's their fucking job to spy on Russia! And of course Russia is spying on us - it's their job, too. Once in a while somebody gets caught - but so what? You shrug your shoulders, say "OK, you won this round", and then you get right back to business. It doesn't mean either side is being "bad guys"; we shouldn't be surprised or upset when we catch one of theirs, and we shouldn't feel embarrassed when they catch one of ours (OK, maybe we should be embarrassed about being so inept we were caught, but not embarrassed about what we were caught doing).

News flash: the CIA spies on Russia and occasionally gets caught! In other news, water remains wet and rocks remain hard.

Putin's crackdown on human rights

[SysKoll]

Yeah, as the OP said, there is a lot of concern about Putin's crackdown on human rights. Why, the rumor is that he is using the tax administration to harass opponents [wsj.com] and that his chief Justice has grabbed phone records from news agencies [slashdot.org] that don't tow the line.

Fortunately, such things would never happen in the US.

Re:GITMO

[Anonymous Coward]

precisely to maintain the moral high ground by providing extraterritoriality

That's precisely the opposite of maintaining the moral high ground.

Re:Amateur

[Anonymous Coward]

The US government gets a good excuse for restricting its own people even more since they now have a plausible enemy.

The CIA gets more funding since they now have a plausible enemy.

Re:BFD

[rtb61]

The consignment of criminal acts is dangerous. Oh tee hee a foreign agent killed some citizens, oh tee hee a foreign agent funded internal terrorists, oh tee hee foreign agent is consorting with and funding local organised crim. Perhaps a foreign agent corrupted local politicians to start a war and kill thousands of our soldiers to fulfil their goals of regional dominance, hmm, Mossad and the US government, not so fucking funny now is it. Capturing intelligence is worlds apart from inciting criminal acts like treason.