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Lawyer for Russian spy says his client is keeping mum

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 30, 2010 04:17 PM

US Marshals Service

The US Marshals Service released these mug shots today of the spies. The two who lived in Cambridge are Elena Vavilova, who went by the name of Tracy Lee Ann Foley, fourth from left in top row, and Andrey Bezrukov, who called himself Donald Howard Heathfield, fourth from left in bottom row.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

The lawyer for one of two admitted Russian spies from Cambridge said today that numerous media outlets want to interview his client, who was deported to Moscow three weeks ago, but the spy isn't talking.

Peter B. Krupp, who represented Andrey Bezrukov, formerly known as Donald Howard Heathfield, said outlets ranging from Vanity Fair to the Wall Street Journal have called him seeking interviews with his client in Russia.

"At this point, he's not talking to anybody," Krupp of Boston said. "Who knows if that will change? People are dying to get the story, and nobody's gotten it, as far as I know."

Krupp said that he has communicated several times with Bezrukov since he and nine other admitted spies returned to Russia on July 9 in exchange for four men accused of spying on Russia for the United States and Britain. But Krupp would not elaborate, saying he did not want to violate the attorney-client privilege.

One of the other nine deported Russian spies was Bezrukov's wife, Elena Vavilova, who had lived in Cambridge with her husband as Tracey Lee Ann Foley. They had passed themselves off as French-Canadian immigrants.

On Thursday, the US Marshals Service in Washington released the mug shots of the 10 spies who were arrested June 27 in Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, and New Jersey.

Krupp said he was surprised that the marshals released the mug shots because the federal aurthorites do not ordinarily provided photographs of defendants.

David Oney, a spokesman for the Marshals Service in Washington, said he believed the agency released the mug shots in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.