Word: russian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...intended to send a clear message that the Yeltsin-era bonhomie between the erstwhile enemies is over. An American private citizen, identified by ABC News as retired Navy captain Edmond Pope, was arrested Thursday on charges of espionage, and is awaiting trial in the notorious Lefortovo prison. A Russian associate was arrested along with him, in a swoop on what Moscow's Federal Security Service (FSB) says was a spying operation on an advanced Russian submarine program. Pope reportedly works for the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University, which has contracts with the Office of Naval Research...
...This could be another example of someone caught in the gray area of gathering information on sensitive Russian programs," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "During the Cold War everything was black and white, and any attempt by a foreigner to gain access to information on anything related to the military was automatically considered espionage. But nowadays you have Russians, and sometimes Americans, working on non-governmental contracts from institutions that sometimes also have some federal funding and are working with open sources of information to gather information on the Russian military-industrial complex. Even when it's aboveboard, this...
...Being a private citizen, the American detainee lacks the traditional diplomatic cover under which spies tend to work, which includes diplomatic immunity when caught. Thus, while American diplomat Cheri Leberknight, who was reportedly caught trying to obtain military secrets from a Russian citizen, was simply expelled, Captain Pope (if that really is his name) could face a lengthy jail term if convicted. The arrest also appears to be a calculated attempt by Russia?s new president, Vladimir Putin, to send out a political signal both at home and abroad. "This reeks of an effort to make political capital," says Meier...
...last night, three residents of the area who are affiliated with the Davis Center for Russian Studies--which will move into Knafel--questioned the building's value...
...NASA isn't exactly thrilled by the privatization of Mir, because the project is still consuming valuable manpower and resources from the Russian space program, which is now in partnership with the U.S. to build a bigger orbiting space station. "The Russians are heavily committed to the International Space Station project, and the U.S. doesn't want them diverting scarce resources and manpower into keeping alive an orbiting derelict," says Kluger. "But that won't make much difference to Moscow, because Mir is an enormously emotional issue for Russia - it's the last surviving achievement of their once-great space...