Russia and US said to be planning spy exchange
Reports from Russia say a prisoner swap is being planned to bring 10 suspected Russian spies back from the US.
A man jailed in Russia for spying for the CIA said he and unspecified others would be exchanged, his family said.
Igor Sutyagin was quoted as saying he expected to be put on flights to Vienna, then London, on Thursday.
Neither the Russian nor the US authorities were commenting on reports of the swap.
The 10 suspected Russian spies were arrested last month in Virginia and New York state on suspicion of working as illegal agents for the Russian government.
An 11th suspect was arrested in Cyprus but went missing after being released on bail.
On Wednesday, the New York Times quoted sources close to the case as saying the federal government was seeking a rapid resolution.
＇No choice＇
Igor Sutyagin, a nuclear weapons specialist, is serving a 15-year jail sentence for passing information to a UK firm allegedly used as a front by the CIA.
According to his brother, Dmitry, he said he had been told by Russian officials that he would be released and sent to the UK in exchange for an unknown number of spies.
The officials met Sutyagin on Monday at a prison in Arkhangelsk, northern Russia, and US officials were at the meeting, the brother said.
Sutyagin said he had been made to sign a confession, although he maintains his innocence and does not want to leave Russia, his brother added.
After Monday＇s meeting, the prisoner was reportedly moved to Moscow＇s Lefortovo prison.
Anna Stavitskaya, a lawyer acting for Sutyagin, told Reuters that her client had agreed to be swapped "as he had no other choice left".
"He knew that otherwise his whole life would be broken but he still insists he is innocent," she said.
Russian media quote a member of Sutyagin＇s family as saying he had seen a list of names of prisoners likely to be swapped by Russia, including Sergei Skripal.
Skripal is a Russian military intelligence (GRU) officer convicted of spying for the UK in 2006.
The 11 alleged members of the Russian spy ring in the US are accused of conspiracy to act as unlawful agents of a foreign government.
The crime is less serious than espionage but carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Two of the suspects, Mikhail Kutzik and Natalia Pereverzeva, had been living as a couple with their children in Arlington, near Washington DC.
They have admitted being Russian citizens operating under assumed names.
The two had been due to appear at a court hearing along with fellow suspect Mikhail Semenko on Wednesday but the hearing was adjourned.
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