U.S. expels Russian diplomats

As many as 50 suspected spies may be ordered out of the country.

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 22, 2001

WASHINGTON -- The State Department on Wednesday ordered the immediate expulsion of a half dozen suspected Russian spies and informed Moscow that as many as 50 intelligence officers using diplomatic cover in Washington, New York and San Francisco would have to leave over the next several months, according to published reports.

Five or six Russian diplomats were formally declared persona non grata, and dozens of others were invited to leave in a less formal manner that gives them more time to get out, according to reports by the Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press and Knight Ridder.

Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who was briefed on the expulsions, told AP that four to six Russians suspected of spying had already left. He said those diplomats were believed to have had some direct connection with the case of Robert Hanssen, the veteran FBI counterintelligence agent who was arrested Feb. 18 on charges of spying for Moscow over the past 15 years.

The others, which he confirmed numbered in the "dozens," were being asked to leave to bring the Russian Embassy in Washington to the same staffing level as the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. In that category are some of Russia's most experienced intelligence officers here, he said.

"There have been a series of messages of disappointment directed at the Russian government for its role in the Hanssen affair," Graham said. He said it was likely the next shoe to drop would be a tit-for-tat expulsion of American diplomats from Russia.

"Assumedly, they are going to make a request for some of our most experienced to leave," Graham said. "That is the expected way in which these counterintelligence incidents work when they go sour."

It is the largest number of Russians ordered out of the country since the Reagan administration expelled 80 Soviet diplomats in 1986.

Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered the news to the Russian ambassador, Yury V. Ushakov, who was summoned to the State Department Wednesday afternoon.

The Post reported that a former State Department official said a mass expulsion had been contemplated for months as a means of reducing the number of Russian intelligence officers operating in the United States.

While some officials had advocated ordering the expulsions in December and January before President Clinton left office, the Post reported, the FBI and the CIA wanted the move delayed so that they could complete their investigation of Hanssen.

The expulsions also fit a pattern of hard-line foreign policy choices by the Bush administration. Last week, President Bush took a tough stance against North Korea, indicating that the United States was not eager to pursue missile talks. The administration also has signaled that it intends to push ahead with plans for missile defense despite opposition from Russia, China and some European allies.

Spokesmen at the White House and State Department declined to comment Wednesday night, saying an official announcement about the administration's communications with the Russian government would be made this morning.

A spokesman at the Russian Embassy, Yuriy I. Zubarev, said Wednesday, "We are not commenting on intelligence issues."

The action follows years of growing frustration at the FBI about the revival of the Russian intelligence presence in the United States. The number of Russian intelligence officers working in this country declined briefly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But FBI and CIA officials now estimate the Russian intelligence presence is now back close to Cold War levels.

Some U.S. counterintelligence officials suspect that there are now as many as 200 to 450 Russian spies in the United States, many of them trying to obtain American high technology.

For the most part, Russian intelligence officers are based at the Russian embassy in Washington, the Russian consulate and the U.N. mission in New York, and the Russian consulate in San Francisco, officials say.

According to a Diplomatic List published this winter by the Department of State, the Russian Embassy in Washington has 114 diplomats, as well as officials in six other offices around the city. By comparison, the British Embassy lists 76 diplomats.

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