Washington/Moscow, June 29: An incident reminiscent of the Cold War era hostilities, the US has arrested 11 people on charges of spying for Russia, angering Moscow to issue a stern warning that it would be a blow to the Obama-Medvedev ‘burger’ diplomacy and the ‘reset’ in bilateral ties.
 The arrests were made on Sunday and yesterday in Boston, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, the Department of Justice announced today alleging that the group dubbed the “Illegals” was tasked by
 the Russian intelligence agency SVR to enter the US, assume false identities and carry out espionage activities.
 The defendants, eight of whom are married couples, held jobs in fields such as finance and media. The FBI said the arrests are a result of multi-year investigations.
 The 11th suspect was detained in Cyprus. Canadian Robert Christopher Metsos, 54, was arrested at Larnaca airport in Cyprus by the police as he prepared to board an early-morning flight to Budapest.
 “These Russian secret agents work to hide all connections between themselves and Russia, even as they act at the directions and under the control of SVR, these secrets agents are typically called “illegals”, the FBI said in its complaint filed before a US court yesterday.
 Reacting sharply to the arrest, Russia warned that it would be a blow to the recent ‘burger’ diplomacy between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev and the ‘reset’ in bilateral ties.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST