INTERCAMBIO DE ESPÍAS

Top of the Agenda: U.S. and Russia Trade Agents The U.S. and Russian governments apparently completed a spy swap in Vienna (WSJ), trading ten deported Russian agents for four prisoners held by Russia. The deal came after high-level negotiations led by CIA director Leon Panetta and his Russian counterpart. The ten Russians arrested in the United States on June 27 pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to serve as unlawful foreign agents and agreed to be expelled from the United States in exchange for days already served in jail. An eleventh accused spy remains at large after skipping bail in Cyprus last week. The United States simultaneously requested the release of four prisoners in Russia, who were convicted for having contact with Western intelligence agencies. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree pardoning the four prisoners, though the Kremlin declined to say when and how they would be freed and deported. Both countries wanted to limit damage to the "reset" of diplomatic relations forged by U.S. President Barack Obama and Medvedev. The quick agreement occurred as the U.S. Senate is weighing a new bilateral nuclear arms-control accord (WashPost). Analysis: On RealClearWorld.com, Daniel McGroarty says the spies arrested in the United States may have been more threatening to U.S. interests than the media assumes. In the Wall Street Journal, Thomas Frank says the arrested Russian spies mastered an aspect of U.S. business culture centered on esoteric language and pretentious altruism, which should teach the United States a lesson about its business practices. Background: Read (PDF) the plea agreements between the U.S. government and the arrested Russian spies.