Moscow:
Reacting to the arrest of 10 people by FBI for allegedly spying in favour of Moscow, Russia's foreign minister said Moscow was waiting for a US explanation about the arrests of 10 alleged Russian spies.
A senior lawmaker said some in the US government may be trying to undermine President Barack Obama's warming relations with Russia. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that US authorities announced the arrest days after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the United States.
"They haven't explained to us what this is about," Lavrov said at a news conference during a visit to Jerusalem. "I hope they will. The only thing I can say today is that the moment for doing that has been chosen with special elegance."
Medvedev met with Obama at the White House last week after the Russian leader visited high-tech firms in California's Silicon Valley. The two presidents made a jaunt for cheeseburgers to Ray's Hell Burger in Virginia, exchanged jokes and walked together in the park in a show of easy camaraderie underlining that efforts to "reset" ties have taken deep root.
The series of arrests of purported deep cover agents followed a multiyear FBI investigation. The FBI has arrested 10 people who allegedly spied for Russia for up to a decade, posing as innocent civilians while trying to infiltrate US policy making circles and learn about US weapons, diplomatic strategy and politics. An 11th defendant, a man accused of delivering money to the agents, remains at large.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov said that the information given by US authorities looks "contradictory." He wouldn't comment further. The main Russian spy agency, the Foreign Intelligence Service, refused to comment on the arrests. Alexander Torshin, a deputy speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house, sought to downplay the arrests and said they are unlikely to derail efforts to improve Russian-U.S. ties. "It's not a return to the Cold War, and I'm sure that this incident won't develop into a large-scale spy scandal," Torshin said, according to the state RIA Novosti news agency. He said agreements reached during Medvedev's visit to the United States last week signaled that relations between Moscow and Washington have reached a new higher level.
But another senior lawmaker, a deputy chairman of the Security Affairs Committee in the lower house of parliament, Vladimir Kolesnikov, told RIA Novosti the arrests signaled that some quarters in the US government oppose warmer ties with Russia. "Regrettably, there are people in America burdened by the legacy of the Cold War, the legacy of double standards," he said. "And they react improperly to the warming of relations spearheaded by the presidents. It's a blow to President Obama."
Kolesnikov, a former deputy chief prosecutor general, said, "US secret agents are continuing to work in Russia and suggested that Russia could respond tit-for-tat. Previously we have quietly evicted some of them," he said. "Now I think we should more actively apply criminal legislation against them." Kolesnikov is not believed to have close ties to the Kremlin or knowledge of the government's plans.
People on the streets of Moscow on Tuesday gave mixed reactions to the case. Aleksei Dmitriev, a resident of Russia's second city St Petersburg, said he was not surprised by the revelations. "This is the way it always was during the Cold War, and thanks to Putin this is all still being continued now, as it suits our country," he said.
One Moscow resident, who gave his name only as Aleksei, said he was concerned it would mean "bad news" for recently improved Russia-US relations.