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FBI releases video, papers on Anna Chapman and Russian spy ring
Anna Chapman
/ Getty Images(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - The FBI has released surveillance tapes and documents shedding new light on the 11-year investigation of a Russian espionage ring that led to the biggest spy swap since the Cold War and turned one of the agents, Anna Chapman, into an international celebrity.
The tapes released on Monday were in response to a Freedom of Information Act filed by The Associated Press. They show the sleeper agents meeting handlers, receiving money and transmitting coded messages.
The probe was known as Operation Ghost Stories, according to the documents.
Russia provided members of the ring with false identities, high-tech communications gear and middle-class lives in America. The Russians also told them to cultivate academics, in addition to becoming entrepreneurs and policymakers.
However, a high-ranking U.S. mole in Russian intelligence ran the ring from the start and it never stole any secrets.
Ten spies were arrested in June 2010 and traded for four Russians convicted of spying for the West.
Complete Coverage of Anna Chapman on Crimesider
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