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U.S. Department of Justice
A former U.S. Special Forces officer has been arrested on charges of espionage, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Peter Debbins is accused of passing classified information to the Russian Military Intelligence Agency (GRU) over a period of more than 10 years.
A DoJ press release says that during several visits to Russia in the 2000s, he had contact with GRU agents, who knew him by the code name Ikar Lesnikov.
Capt. Debbins, 45, faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The man from Gainesville, Virginia, is accused of conspiracy to provide information on U.S. national defense to agents of a foreign government.
Debbins took his oath as a U.S. Army officer, betrayed the Special Forces and threatened the national security of our country by disclosing classified information to Russian intelligence officers, giving details of his unit, and identifying special forces team members for Russian intelligence to trying to recruit like a spy, “said Assistant Attorney General John Demers.
“Our country put its highest trust in this suspect, and he took that trust and armed it against the United States.”
‘Son of Russia’
Capt Debbins’ mother was born in the former USSR, the press release said, and in part he developed an interest in Russia for this reason, traveling there several times between 1994 and 2010.
He married the daughter of a Russian military officer he met in the city of Chelyabinsk in the 1990s.
The press release says that he often expressed loyalty to Moscow to his Russian traders and described himself as a “son of Russia”.
“The Russian intelligence agents encouraged him to join forces and pursue a career in the special forces, which he did,” the DoJ said.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1998 to 2005, serving in chemical units, including in South Korea, before joining the Special Forces in 2003 as a captain in Germany.
A year later, he received top security clearance and was deployed to Azerbaijan, but was investigated for a security breach and was removed from his command.
He was honorably discharged in November 2005 and served on the reserve until 2010.
