The US Department of Justice announced that a former "Green Beret" officer - a US Special Forces unit - was arrested on Friday and charged with spying for Russia.
The ministry said that Peter Raphael Dzibinski Depens, born in the United States 45 years ago to a Russian mother, began communicating with Russian intelligence in 1996, that is, before joining the army, but after he visited Russia repeatedly.
She added that that year he was a university student in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk when he was met by Russian intelligence agents, and he told them that he felt that he was "a son of Russia," and that he belonged politically to Moscow.
According to the indictment, Depens - whom his Russian employers gave him a nom de guerre, Ikar Lesnikov - married his Russian girlfriend - whose father was an officer in the Russian army - the following year, and joined the ranks of the American army.
A few years later, Depens informed the Russians of his desire to leave the army, but instead encouraged him to join the Special Forces, which he did in 2001.
He spent two years serving in Germany with the rank of captain, and then in Azerbaijan, where he had the right to see top-secret information.
Depens resigned from the army in 2005 and worked in Minnesota, but remained in contact with his Russian employers.
Prosecutors said Friday that 45-year-old Peter Debbins was even assigned a code name by Russian intelligence agents in 1997.https: //t.co/JTagiha35z
- WTVR CBS 6 Richmond (@ CBS6) August 22, 2020
According to the indictment, the last contact between Depens and his Russian employers took place in 2011, when he informed them that he was leaving to stay in Washington.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Depens then began working at the Institute for Global Policy, specializing in national security and intelligence.
The former officer was arrested in Virginia and charged with “providing a foreign government with US defense information,” a crime punishable under US law with life imprisonment.
"The facts mentioned in this case represent horrific betrayal by a former army officer of his former comrades in arms and his country," said Alan Kohler, an official in the FBI, "the FBI" in a statement.