Former US Army Green Beret sentenced to 15 years in prison for Russian espionage
- In a handwritten confession, Peter Dzibinski Debbins wrote that in 1997, he gave Russian intelligence a signed statement saying ‘I want to serve Russia’
- Debbins entered active-duty Army service in 1998 and by then had already committed to serve the Russians, assigned the code name ‘Ikar Lesnikov’
A former Army Green Beret who admitted divulging military secrets to Russia over a 15-year period was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison on Friday on espionage charges.
The sentence of 15 years and eight months imposed on Peter Dzibinski Debbins, 46, of Gainesville, Virginia, by US District Judge Claude Hilton was largely in line with the 17-year term sought by prosecutors. Defence lawyers sought a five-year term.
Debbins’ lawyer, David Benowitz, argued that Debbins caused minimal damage and that Russian agents had blackmailed Debbins by threatening to expose his same-sex attractions in a military era in which “don’t ask, don’t tell” was still in force.
Debbins, at Friday’s sentencing hearing in Alexandria, offered an apology of sorts in which he largely emphasised how he was victimised by the GRU, the Russian intelligence service, and said he is put himself at danger of retaliation at their hands for admitting his service to them.
The world has now observed that Russia successfully placed an espionage recruit within the elite US Army Special Forces.
“I have suffered in lonely silence for 25 years,” Debbins said. As for the danger he faces from the GRU, he said, “The GRU does not make threats; they keep promises.”