US federal agents have arrested an alleged Russian spy in New York accused of trying to collect economic intelligence and recruit local sources while working for a Russian bank.
US prosecutors named the alleged covert intelligence agent as Evgeny Buryakov, 39.
He was to appear before US Judge Sarah Netburn in a Manhattan federal court later on Monday.
Prosecutors said he was assisted in his illegal spying activities by Russian spies Igor Sporyshev, 40, and Victor Podobnyy, 27, who had been attached to the Russian missions in New York.
Although both had been protected by diplomatic immunity they no longer live in the US, and have been charged in absentia despite not being arrested, officials said on Monday.
US prosecutors allege Buryakov worked as a covert agent for Moscow without notifying the US government, operating undercover while officially working for a Russian bank in Manhattan.
In 2010, the United States arrested 10 alleged sleeper agents including Anna Chapman, accused of spying for Russia in the New York region who were then subject to a prisoner swap with Moscow.
US officials said the arrest on Monday harked back to the Cold War.
"These charges demonstrate our firm commitment to combating attempts by covert agents to illegally gather intelligence and recruit spies within the United States," Attorney General Eric Holder said.
"We will use every tool at our disposal to identify and hold accountable foreign agents operating inside this country - no matter how deep their cover," he added.
US Attorney Preet Bharara said it showed that "more than two decades" after the Cold War, "Russian spies continue to seek to operate in our midst under cover of secrecy".
Buryakov is accused of working as an undercover agent for Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency while posing as an employee of a Russian bank.
It is illegal in the US for foreign spies to operate undeclared.
While Sporyshev and Podobnyy were also allegedly SVR agents, they were protected by diplomatic immunity.
From November 2010 to November 2014, Sporyshev worked as Russia's trade representative in New York.
From December 2012, to September 2013, Podobnyy served as attache to the Russian mission to the United Nations in New York.
But while exempt from notifying the attorney general of the true nature of their work they were not allowed to conspire, aid or abet Buryakov with his work, US prosecutors said.
The trio allegedly met regularly and communicated through coded messages to exchange intelligence.
From March 2012 until mid-September 2014, the FBI observed dozens of meetings in which Buryakov passed a bag, magazine, or slip of paper to Sporyshev at meetings set up by a short telephone call.
Officials said the net closed in on Buryakov after he met numerous times last summer with an FBI source posing as the representative of a wealthy investor looking to develop casinos in Russia.
The trio are charged with conspiring for Buryakov to act as an undeclared foreign agent.
Share
