Russian spy ring: Couples faked marriages, had sex, even kids to become 'Americanized'

By James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

The most bizarrely inhuman allegation in the criminal complaints the Justice Department filed Sunday against 10 accused Russian "secret agents" - self-described "Illegals" - pretending to be Americans in New York, New Jersey and the Virginia suburbs outside D.C. was that they lived as married couples, even though most weren't, in fact, ever married.

And had spy sex.

And had spy children together, even though they were only pretending to be married couples in order create a "deep cover," or "legend," by blending into American suburban society. And it was all on orders of Mother Russia's spy service, the SVR, whose headquarters is known as "Moscow Center."

"Illegals often operate in pairs - being placed together by Moscow Center while in Russia, so that they can live together and work together in a host country, under the guise of a married couple," prosecutors said in a criminal complaint yesterday. "Illegals who are placed together and cohabitate in the country to which they are assigned will often have children together. This further deepens an illegal's 'legend.'"

The Russians' long-term goal: "To become sufficiently Americanized."

"Some of the spies aren't even married," a law enforcement official told The Mouth.

All of the couples engaged in spying were run by handlers out of Russia's UN mission, the official said.

And having unprotected spy sex isn't all that the "Illegals" did.

"They used proxies" to gain information from the U.S. government without directly penetrating it, said one law enforcement official. But unlike past spy cases involving turncoats like Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, no American spies or "assets" overseas have been exposed or killed, the official said.

"Cynthia Murphy," whose real Russian identity wasn't exposed in the court filings, worked at a New York firm and landed the account of a city financier, who was "prominent in politics" as an apparently active Democratic Party fundraiser, and also was a "personal friend of (a current Obama cabinet official, name omitted)," the complaint says.

"Of course he is very interesting 'target,'" Moscow Center told "Murphy" in an encrypted message. "Try to build up little by little relations with him moving beyond just (work) framework."

What was collected on U.S. policy by "Cynthia Murphy" was not laid out by Justice, but prosecutors said the SVR thought it was valuable.

It is virtually unheard of for the U.S. to roll up so many deep cover spies at once. The main purpose of the arrests was to cause panic in the Russian spy service since it runs similar operations worldwide.

"They're crapping in their pants right now," the official said. "They don't know what we know."

Since the spies don't claim diplomatic immunity, they can be charged. Whether prosecutions will go forward, however, remains unclear. Most now in custody will make initial court appearances on Thursday.