Former US Army Green Beret has teamed up with Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the GRU, and provided its national defense information from 1996 to 2011, federal prosecutors said in a statement Friday.
Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, of Gainesville, Virginia, opposes a single coup attempt to gather or provide information on defense to assist a foreign government. He receives a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Debbins first visited Russia at age 19, according to the federal indictment. His mother was born in the Soviet Union, and he met his wife in Chelyabinsk, Russia, where the couple later married. His father-in-law was a former officer in the Russian army.
Debbins, 45, was born in Minnesota. It was unclear Friday whether he has a lawyer.
According to the indictment, Debbins was slowly being cared for and indoctrinated in the Russian intelligence service, beginning in December 1996 when Debbins traveled to Chelyabinsk as part of an independent study program, according to the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
He was given a code name by Russian intelligence agents and signed a document saying he wanted to serve Russia, the Justice Department said.
Debbins shared all classified information about his time in the Special Forces, including names and information about his former team members that Russian agents could evaluate and possibly approach these people to see if they would cooperate.
“When service providers work together to provide classified information to our foreign adversaries, they are betraying the oath they swore to their country and their fellow counterparts,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. , we will be steadfast and dogged to hold such persons accountable. “
The investigation was conducted with the help of the FBI, Army Counterintelligence, the UK’s Metropolitan Police and its internal security apparatus, MI5.
According to prosecutors, a member of the Russian intelligence service contacted Debbins and later set up a meeting in 1996. Debbins was given a job and was instructed to obtain the names of four nuns at a Catholic church that visited Debbins. which he accomplished at the request of a Russian intelligence officer.
When Debbins graduated from the University of Minnesota in September 1997, he returned to Russia and met with Russian intelligence, nicknamed “Ikar Lesnikov.” Joech. and signed a statement saying he wanted to serve Russia.
Debbins joined the U.S. Army in July 1998, and before leaving Russia, he was given a phone number to use with his code name to contact the GRU.
Then, in 1999, when Debbins was on leave from a tour in South Korea, he returned to Russia and reached out to one of his Russian intelligence agents. At that meeting, he apparently provided information about his platoon, the mission of the unit, and its mission.
Debbins told the Russian he wanted to leave the army, but his handler encouraged him to stay, according to cargo documents.
The Russians questioned him and asked if he was actually a spy for the US, which Debbins apparently denied, saying he loved and was committed to Russia.
He apparently told the Russians that the US was too dominant in the world and that they should be cut to size.
Alicia Victoria Lozano contributed.
