Russia fears spies are double agents
Redhead Anna Chapman and nine other Russian spies ejected from the US are facing lie detector tests to see if any of them are double agents, reports from Moscow revealed today.
The 10 spies, sent back to their homeland last week in a dramatic swap deal agreed with Washington, are being interrogated at a secret location to establish whether one or more of the group turned traitor and betrayed their activities to the FBI.
A Russian security source told a Moscow newspaper that the questioning was expected to last for at least two weeks and that an "enormous amount" of effort was being made to find out why the spy ring was uncovered.
"Specialists are working with the agents. They are trying to find out who among the agents had their cover blown and in what circumstances," the source said. "Interviews are being carried out along with different kinds of tests, including with lie detectors."
Although one of the returning spies, Vicky Pelaez, was earlier reported to have been offered $2,000 a month for life, housing and help with her children by the Russian authorities, the questioning raises the prospect that the future might be less encouraging for some of the agents.
The source added: "If it turns out that serious mistakes were made, spies, employees of the Foreign Intelligence Service, can be fired."
None of the agents hasbeen seen since their return to Russia and it is understood that they have been banned from making phone calls or leaving the compound where they are held.
The new developments follow the disclosure that Ms Chapman, who was married to a British man and lived in London before moving to New York, has been stripped of her British passport.
Home Secretary Theresa May, who is also preparing to bar her from the UK permanently, has taken the decision on the grounds that her presence in this country would not be conducive to the national good. The move means that Ms Chapman, who was said by her lawyer to be planning to return to Britain, will have to abandon the idea.
It emerged today that Igor Sutyagin, one of the four Western spies freed by Russia as part of the swap deal, is expecting to be granted permission to live permanently in the UK.
Mr Sutyagin, 45, a nuclear scientist, was jailed for 15 years in 2004 for passing secrets to the CIA via a British firm. He is staying in a London hotel and his brother, Dmitri, claimed that immigration officials had promised to arrange a residence visa for him.
A second of the four Western spies, Sergei Skripal, 59, a former military intelligence officer accused of spying for MI6, was also deported to Britain.
