Two of the 11 accused Russian agents, charged over an alleged deep cover spy ring in the US, have admitted their true identities to the FBI.
The pair, who went by the false names Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills, told investigators they are really Mikhail Kutzik and Natalia Pereverzeva. The couple claimed to be married and have two children who were taken in to care after their parents were arrested at a flat in Arlington, Virginia, earlier the week.
The couple may have been obliged to reveal their identities for the good of their children, aged one and two. The FBI said Kutzik and Pereverzeva have asked for them to be returned to the care of family in Russia while they are detained in the US.
Prosecutors revealed the couple's true identities to a Virginia court yesterday where the pair were seeking bail along with a third alleged spy, Mikhail Semenko. The judge ruled that all three must remain in custody because they are a flight risk.
In a letter to the court, prosecutors said that Zottoli had claimed to be a US citizen born in Yonkers, New York, and Mills purported to be a Canadian. But under interrogation both admitted to being Russians.
"Zottoli admitted to FBI agents that he is a Russian citizen who true name is Mikhail Kutzik, that his date of birth is different than the one he used under the Zottoli identity, and that his father lived in Russia," the letter said.
"Similarly, Mills … admitted that she is, in fact, a Russian citizen named Natalia Pereverzeva. Mills further stated that her parents, brother, and sister still live in Russia." The FBI described the couple as "highly trained" by the Russian intelligence service, the SVR.
Prosecutors said that following the arrest of the couple, investigators discovered $100,000 in new $100 bills stuffed in to two safe deposit boxes as well as passports in their false names.
The FBI also discovered covert communications equipment. It said it was able to establish links between the couple and other alleged members of the spy ring. It says it discovered a computer in the couple's house that was delivered from Moscow earlier this year by a man calling himself Richard Murphy, who was arrested in New Jersey.
"When Zottoli and Mills had trouble communicating covertly with the SVR … they travelled to New York City, where co-conspirator Richard Murphy gave Zottoli a new laptop computer that Murphy brought back from Moscow," the prosecution's letter said.
"Zottoli and Mills travelled to New York on four occasions to obtain money and supplies for their work as SVR agents: in 2004, Zottoli arranged to meet Richard Murphy near Columbus Circle to receive money, and Mills stood lookout." Two years later the couple travelled to Wurtsboro, New York, where Zottoli dug up a package of money that had been buried there two years earlier by a fellow conspirator, according to the FBI.
Last year, Murphy delivered the couple $150,000 and a flash memory card.
Investigators say they discovered a radio transmitter and codebook during a covert search of a flat the couple were living in Seattle two years ago.
The couple have been charged with failing to register as an agent of a foreign government and money laundering.
Semenko, is believed to be using his real name and is the US on a specialist work permit. According to the indictment against him, Semenko admitted in conversations with an FBI agent posing as a Russian intelligence operative that he was trained in communications by "the Centre guys", taken to mean Moscow.