Russians arrest U.S. spy suspect

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian security police have detained a U.S. citizen they allege was being trained for intelligence work.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said the man was a student arrested on drugs charges but had links to the U.S. intelligence services.

The FSB -- successor of the Soviet KGB -- named him as John Edward Tobbin who was a post-graduate student at Voronezh University, where many international students study.

Tobbin had studied Russian at a U.S. Defense Ministry Institute in Monterey, California, and then at a military intelligence school. He also had a security clearance, the FSB added.

"The Russian security services believe the American was, apparently, carrying out work to familiarise himself with the country and language before receiving his main assignment," Voronezh FSB spokesman Pavel Bolshunov told Interfax.

The FSB said in a statement that Tobbin is a Fulbright scholar with a letter of recommendation from the U.S. State Department.

Bolshunov also told independent NTV television that Tobbin had attended a school for military interpreters and had received an education that made him an expert in interrogations.

Tobbin's lawyer, Vladimir Kulinichev, said no charges related to espionage had been levelled at his client and he was unhappy that such allegations had been aired.

"If they have such information, then let them present it. If they have no information, then why do they spread it?" he said.

He said he had appealed unsuccessfully for the court to release Tobbin on bail. He said Tobbin was in good physical health, but was suffering psychologically.

The FSB announced Tobbin's detention almost a month after it happened. Newspaper Noviye Izvestiye had reported the incident on February 13, although no spy link was mentioned.

Tobbin's arrest is the latest in a series linked to alleged espionage between the two countries, the most notable being the detention in the U.S. of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, accused of being a double agent.

And U.S. businessman Edmond Pope was convicted and jailed in Russia for spying but later released on orders from President Vladimir Putin.

In the Russian city of Kaluga, Igor Sutyagin, a researcher of the USA/Canada Institute, is currently on trial for high treason.

Prosecutors charge him with maintaining links and giving technical data on Russian weapons systems to an organisation set up by the intelligence service of a NATO country.

Sutyagin's trial resumed on Tuesday after being adjourned on Monday. He has been in jail since October 1999, when he was arrested by the FSB.

The 35-year-old researcher denies charges of passing secrets about Russian nuclear submarines to the United States and Britain, saying he never held classified information.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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