An 11th suspect accused by the United States of spying for Russia has gone missing after being released on bail in Cyprus, Cypriot police said today.
Christopher Robert Metsos (55) was expected to sign in at a police station in the coastal town of Larnaca today but failed to show up, said a police spokesman. A warrant was being prepared for his arrest for violating the terms of his bail order, he added.
Mr Metsos was the only one of the 11 suspects arrested outside the United States. He was freed on bail in Cyprus yesterday after being held while attempting to leave the country for Budapest from Larnaca airport, police said.
Russia today said arrests of the suspects would not hurt improving relations with Washington, softening its tone after an initial angry response.
The Russian Foreign Ministry at first condemned the US actions as "baseless and improper" and hinted the arrests could dampen Moscow's enthusiasm for warmer ties, raising the spectre of a Cold War-style diplomatic stand-off.
But the Foreign Ministry expressed optimism today that the fall-out would not ruin the relationship "reset" initiated by President Barack Obama and embraced by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"We expect that the incident involving the arrest in the United States of a group of people suspected of spying for Russia will not negatively affect Russian-U.S. relations," a Foreign Ministry official said.
The US Justice Department on Monday announced it had arrested 10 suspected spies in four eastern cities.
The suspects were accused of seeking information on issues ranging from nuclear weapons research to the global gold market and CIA job applicants, according to U.S. prosecutors.
With buried banknotes, coded communications and ritualised rules for secret handoffs, the US accusations echoed spy scandals of the Soviet era and the more recent chill in relations with the Kremlin which, during the 2000-2008 presidency of former KGB officer Vladimir Putin, often accused the West of trying to weaken Russia through espionage.
Reuters