Russia wants to swap a scientist jailed on charges of spying for Britain for one of the suspected Russian agents detained in the United States last month, a lawyer for the scientist told Reuters today.
Igor Sutyagin, a nuclear weapons expert, was convicted by a Russian court to 15 years in jail in 2004 on charges of passing classified military information to a British firm prosecutors said acted as a front for the US Central Intelligence Agency.
"They want to exchange Sutyagin for those accused of spying in the United States," Anna Stavitskaya, a lawyer acting for Sutyagin, said by telephone. "They want the swap to take place tomorrow."
She said she did not know for whom he would be exchanged. Ms Stavitskaya said Sutyagin would be sent initially to Britain.
FBI agents arrested 10 people last month in the United States suspected of spying for Russia.
Reuters