US exclusive forces veteran arrested for passing secrets and techniques to Russia

A former US distinctive forces captain has been arrested on fees of espionage, the US Division of Justice says.

Peter Debbins is alleged to have handed labeled data to the Russian armed service intelligence company (GRU) about a period of a lot more than 10 several years.

A DoJ push release says in the course of various visits to Russia in the 2000s he had contact with GRU agents, who realized him by the code identify Ikar Lesnikov.

Capt Debbins, 45, faces everyday living imprisonment if convicted.

The Gainesville, Virginia, male is billed with conspiring to offer US countrywide defence info to agents of a foreign federal government.

“Debbins violated his oath as a US Military officer, betrayed the particular forces and endangered our country’s countrywide security by revealing classified information to Russian intelligence officers, delivering facts of his device, and pinpointing exclusive forces group customers for Russian intelligence to attempt to recruit as a spy,” Assistant Lawyer General John Demers said.

“Our nation place its greatest have faith in in this defendant, and he took that rely on and weaponised it against the United States.”

‘Son of Russia’

Capt Debbins’ mom was born in the previous USSR, the press release reported, and partly for this purpose he produced an fascination in Russia, travelling there several times involving 1994 and 2010.

He married the daughter of a Russian military services officer he met in the town of Chelyabinsk in the 1990s.

The push launch states he regularly expressed loyalty to Moscow to his Russian handlers and described himself as a “son of Russia”.

“The Russian intelligence brokers allegedly encouraged him to sign up for and pursue a occupation in the special forces, which he did,” the DoJ mentioned.

He was on active duty in the US Army from 1998 to 2005, serving in chemical models which include in South Korea in advance of joining the specific forces as a captain in Germany in 2003.

A year afterwards he been given leading protection clearance and was deployed to Azerbaijan, but was investigated for a safety violation and eradicated from his command.

He obtained an honourable discharge in November 2005 and served in the reserve until finally 2010.