Real-life spy thriller takes a novel twist with swap plan

• Russian arms control researcher Igor Sutyagin behind bars. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2004, but now he could be involved in an exchange. Picture: PA

Russia is thought to have offered to hand over a nuclear expert jailed for passing secrets to the West in return for an unspecified number of the ten agents who are currently in American jails accused of being Russian sleeper agents.

Igor Sutyagin, a nuclear weapons expert, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2004 on charges of passing classified military information to a British firm which prosecutors said acted as a front for the US CIA.

Sutyagin denied that he was spying, saying the information he provided was available from open sources. His case was one of several incidents of Russian academics and scientists being targeted by the Federal Security Service and accused of misusing classified information, revealing state secrets or, in some cases, espionage.

Anna Stavitskaya, a lawyer acting for Sutyagin, said yesterday: "They want to exchange Sutyagin for (one of) those accused of spying in the United States. They want the swap to take place tomorrow."

There were signs last night that the swap could happen quickly as rumours circulated that the spies were already on the move.

The sleeper suspects arrested in Boston, Virginia, New Jersey and Yonkers, were being gathered in Manhattan, while court hearings in Virginia and Boston were cancelled and the defendants were ordered to be transferred to New York.

But unlike the traditional image of Cold War spy swaps – agents of the superpowers meeting at either end of Berlin's Glienicke bridge in the dead of night to send captured spies across to their handlers – Ms Stavitskaya said Sutyagin would be returned by plane via Vienna and Britain.

US prosecutors claim that the Russian agents had been engaged in espionage for the past decade, involved in secret global travel with false passports, secret code words, fake names, invisible ink and encrypted radio.

The spies were allegedly trying to obtain information about American business, scientific and political affairs. They have been charged with acting as unregistered foreign agents.

An eleventh suspect was detained in Cyprus last week but disappeared after being released on bail, triggering a major manhunt by Cypriot authorities.

As with any good spy story, it remains unclear who first suggested the exchange, as Sutyagin's brother Dmitry said that Washington came up with the plan to swap the 11 accused spies for jailed Russians – suggesting that President Obama thrashed it out personally with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev - and that all that was needed to seal the deal was that the jailed scientist sign an admission of his guilt. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Federal Penitentiary Service said they had no comment on the claim and a spokesman for the US Embassy was not available for comment.

"The Americans presented a list of people for whom they were ready to exchange the people detained in America accused of espionage," said Dmitry Sutyagin. "Igor was among them (and) was told three or four surnames literally, not 11, but apparently they must exchange 11 people for 11. They explained quite clearly that if even one person from this list refused, then the agreement would fall apart."

Analysts have said that the swap would allow both countries to avoid a trial in the US and the damaging publicity that would follow, while eliminating an embarrassing irritant to their diplomatic relations. z