The Russian Illegals, 2010

Mark StoutHistorian, International Spy Museum

Lecturer, Johns Hopkins UniversityJune, 2011

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What is…

• …an “illegal”?

• …a “spetsagent”?

• …a “special reserve officer”?

• …Directorate S of the SVR?

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Line N: Illegal Support

• SVR “Residency”• Line N officers in each

residency to support ops by illegals

• Also spotting, assessing, and recruiting.

• Often support illegals working in other countries.

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Selection and Training• Selected young• Marriage and children• Training• Challenges

“Illegals are loners, strangers in a crowd.”

Concealment device of a Soviet illegal at theInternational Spy Museum.

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Legends and Documentation

• New identities: “legends”• Phony citizenship• University degrees• Jobs, professional associations• Marriage and children

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What Do Illegals Do?• Spot

• Recruit

• Run

• “Illegals…seldom insert themselves in sensitive posts or target governments”

• Especially important in wartime/crisis: “konservy”

They are involved in the clandestine activities, the main purpose of which is to be actively involved during the crisis times and when the diplomatic ties are suspended, when other means of intelligence service are not efficient or sometimes are not possible. --Vladimir Putin on Larry King Live.

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2010: Illegals in the US

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RosterILLEGALS

• Donald Heathfield (Boston)

• Tracey Lee Ann Foley (Boston)

• Richard Murphy (New Jersey)

• Cynthia Murphy (New Jersey)

• Michael Zottoli (Seattle)• Patricia Mills (Seattle)• Juan Lazaro (Yonkers)

SPETSAGENTS (?)• Vicky Pelaez (Yonkers)• Anna Chapman (NYC)• Mikhail Semenko (Arlington,

VA)• Alexey Karetnikov (Seattle)

SPECIAL RESERVE OFFICER (?)• Christopher Metsos (int’l)

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Christopher Metsos

• Special reserve officer?• Claimed to be Canadian• Come and go from the US• Conduit for money, guidance to the illegals• Arrested, skipped bail in Cyprus.

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Boston: Donald Heathfield

• Real name: Andrey Bezrukov

• Naturalized, from Canada

• Claimed son of Canadian diplomat, studied in Czech Republic

• Entered US in 1999

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Cambridge HomeTracey Lee Ann Foley

aka Yelena Vavilova

Boston: Tracey Lee Ann Foley

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Boston: Donald Heathfield

• MPA Kennedy School, Harvard, 2000.• A “joiner,” kept

track of classmates• Member, World

Future Society

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Boston: Donald Heathfield

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Boston: Donald Heathfield

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New Jersey: The Murphys

Richard aka Vladimir Guryev Cynthia aka Lidiya Guryeva

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New Jersey: The Murphys

Montclair New Jersey House

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New Jersey: Richard Murphy

• Came to the US in the mid-1990s

• Claimed to be an American born in Philadelphia

• Birth certificate forged• Metsos to Murphy:

“Well, I’m so happy I’m not your handler.” (March 2002)

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New Jersey: Cynthia Murphy

• Two bachelor degrees from NYU and an MBA from Columbia

• On LinkedIn• VP of Morea Financial Services

in New York• Targeted Alan Patricof

– Venture capitalist– Co-Chair of Hillary Clinton’s

campaign– He says never discussed anything

more than his taxes.

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• Concerns about their legends

• Center steered their careers

• 2009 Center tells Cynthia to strengthen ties with profs/classmates– Access– Security checks– Students who’d applied to

CIA

Well done. A good job…. Our tech people in NY didn’t notice anything suspicious. --SVR to NJ Conspirators

New Jersey: Richard and Cynthia Murphy

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Yonkers: Pelaez and Lazaro• Vicky Pelaez and Juan Lazaro• Two sons, one an adult• Arrived in US in 1980s

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Juan Lazaro• General Mikhail

Vasenkov• Claimed Peruvian from

Uruguay• Former adjunct prof of

Political Science at Baruch College

• Falsifying info in reports

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Vicky Pelaez• Well-known left-wing

journalist.• El Diario/ La Prensa • 1984 held hostage by

MRTA in Peru

“Vicky Pelaez knows, as we also know, that the charges against her are malicious and false” --Committee to Defend Vicky Pelaez

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Yonkers: Pelaez and Lazaro

• Lazaro communicated by radio with Center• They also used “invisible ink”• 14 January 2000 video surveillance in a park in

S. America, Pelaez receives money• 25 August 2007 Lazaro in a park in S. America

receives money from Russian Embassy official

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What Did Russia Target?

• Cultivating contacts• Speculation about running an agent at NSA• Geography:–Boston: Government–New York: Business and Government–Seattle: Tech?–Washington: Government

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What Did Russia Target?• Foreign Policy

• Intelligence

• Terrorism

• Economic info

• Military Info

• Domestic politics

You were sent to USA for long-term service trip. Your education, bank acounts, car, house etc. – all these serve one goal: fulfill your main mission, i.e. to search and develop ties in policymaking circles and send intels to C. --SVR to Murphys, 2009

QUESTIONS?

CSPAN URL

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Why Do (Post-)Communist Countries Use Illegals?

• Lack of embassies• Individuals valued

less?• Immigration• Scrutiny of the

population

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Colonel Aleksandr Poteyev