WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A senior Russian intelligence officer-turned-U.S. agent identified the spies working under deep cover in the United States, a Russian newspaper reports.
Kommersant also quoted an anonymous Russian official suggesting that the traitor, Col. Shcherbakov, was the target of an assassination plan, ABC News reported. The official said a "Mercader" had been ordered, referring to Ramon Mercader, who assassinated Leon Trotsky in 1940 in Mexico City.
"The fate of such a person is unenviable," the official said. "He will carry this with him all his life and will fear retribution every day".
Shcherbakov, who was in charge of foreign agents working undercover, fled to the United States in June, shortly before President Dmitry Medvedev was scheduled to visit. The FBI rounded up the 11 Russian agents at the end of the month, fearing they would be recalled, and they were allowed to plead guilty in July and sent to Russia in a prisoner exchange.
The spies were living under deep unofficial cover in places like Montclair, N.J., with little or no access to classified information.
UPI
