Alleged Russian Spy Ring Used Irish Passports

Members of an apparently half-baked Russian spy ring arrested in the U.S. at the weekend used Irish names and false Irish passports, it has emerged.

On Sunday the FBI arrested 10 people who are alleged to have been on “deep cover assignment” to infiltrate “policymaking circles” in the U.S. and report back to Moscow.

But the dramatic arrests at the weekend caused as much laughter as surprise, due to how inept the group seemed, and how apparently unsuccessful. To date the ten have not even been charged with espionage, only with not registering as agents, or representatives, of a foreign government and with money laundering.

For Ireland’s foreign ministry though, the revelations about the possible use of Irish passports were no laughing matter. On Tuesday the ministry announced they were looking into reports that the alleged Russian spy ring may have travelled on forged Irish documents.

“We will be seeking to obtain further information in relation to these reports. The firm position of the government in regard to the fraudulent use of Irish passports is a matter of public record,” a spokesperson said.

The Irish government was angered recently by the use by Israelis of fake Irish passports in the killing of a Hamas official in Dubai. Earlier this month it called on Israel to withdraw a staffer at its Dublin embassy over the use of the fake passports in the assassination of a Hamas commander. These new documents indicate the Russians may now use the same ploy.

According to papers just released by the FBI members of the alleged Russian spy ring had coded conversations that made them sound like fictional spies from 1980’s espionage films. Modern day Russian spies sound just like movie ones it seems.

“You will meet this guy,” one spy at a Sunnyside, New York restaurant told another, according to an FBI bug. “Tell him Uncle Paul loves him. He will know. It is wonderful to be Santa Claus in May.”

One alleged spy operating with the undercover alias of Richard Murphy traveled in February this year to Rome to collect an Irish passport which bore the name Eunan Gerard Doherty and which had been issued in Dublin in July 2001. In order to get the Irish passport in Rome Murphy had to act like he was starring in a Peter Sellers Pink Panther movie, attending ridiculous sounding meetings with other covert agents.

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Nster.com