Former US special forces officer charged with spying for Russia
- US-born Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, is believed to have been recruited by Russia as far back as 1996
- The ex-soldier was given the cover name of Ikar Lesnikov
A former officer in the US Special Forces Green Berets was arrested on Friday and charged with divulging military secrets about his unit’s activities in former Soviet republics during more than a decade of contacts with Russian intelligence.
US-born Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, told Russian intelligence he considered himself a “son of Russia”, according to an indictment made public after his arrest.
“Debbins thought that the United States was too dominant in the world and needed to be cut down to size,” prosecutors alleged.
The indictment also states that Debbins was motivated in part because of bitterness over his Army career and a desire to establish business contacts in Russia.
The espionage took place from 1996 to 2011, prosecutors say.
“The facts alleged in this case are a shocking betrayal by a former Army officer of his fellow soldiers and his country,” said FBI senior counter-intelligence official Alan Kohler in a statement.
The case against Debbins is the second US Justice Department prosecution announced this week accusing a government or military official of sending US secrets to a foreign country. The other case, in Hawaii, charged a former CIA officer with spying for China.