Russian FSB detains American diplomat for espionage

[Larry1]

For those of you who aren't so familiar with Russia, the FSB is, in Russia, the KGB's successor organization.

RUSSIAN FSB DETAINS US DIPLOMAT ACCUSED OF SPYING

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's security services say they have caught a U.S. diplomat who they claim is a CIA agent in a red-handed attempt to recruit a Russian agent.

Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, was carrying special technical equipment, disguises, written instructions and a large sum of money when he was detained overnight, the FSB said in a statement Tuesday. Fogle was handed over to U.S. embassy officials, the FSB said.

Despite the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States still maintain active espionage operations against each other. Last year, several Russians were convicted in separate cases of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.

The detention of Fogle, however, appeared to be the first American diplomat accused of spying in about a decade and seemed certain to aggravate already strained relations between the two countries.

Russian state television showed pictures of a man said to be Fogle, wearing a baseball cap and what appeared to be a blond wig, lying face down on the ground. The man, now without the wig, was also shown sitting at a desk in the FSB offices. Two wigs and packages of 500 euro notes were among the items displayed on a table.

No immediate comment was available from the U.S. Embassy. Ambassador Michael McFaul, who was doing a question-and-answer session on Twitter when the detention was announced, said he would not comment.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it has summoned McFaul to appear on Wednesday in connection with the detention.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_US_SPYING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-05-14-08-36-31

Since this guy is an American diplomat, and therefore immune from arrest and punishment by Russia, he will merely be booted out of Russia.  If he had no diplomatic protection he would be in a cell now in someplace like Lefortovo Prison facing a grim fate.