U.S. Arrests Russian Envoy Linked to Bug at State Dept.

A Russian diplomat was arrested by federal authorities and ordered out of the United States on Wednesday after being linked to a bugging device planted in a State Department conference room, U.S. officials said.

The incident marked the third instance since early November of alleged spying between Russia and the United States.

State Department deputy spokesman James B. Foley identified the diplomat as Stanislav Borisovich Gusev, a second secretary at the Russian Embassy in Washington. He was believed to be “in the act of gathering information, in the act of spying,” when he was taken into custody, a government source said.

“He was detained by the FBI and, upon confirmation of his diplomatic immunity, subsequently released into the custody of Russian Embassy officials,” Foley said in a prepared statement.

The Russian envoy was apparently taken into custody just outside the State Department, the government source said.

“He was monitoring an electronic listening device,” the official said.

Gusev, a relatively junior diplomat, was briefly held by U.S. officials before he was ordered to leave the country within 10 days. Gusev reportedly had been working in Washington for about a year.

State Department officials declined to provide further details, and it was not immediately clear exactly what information Gusev may have gathered or how sensitive the data might have been. There were indications, however, that the bug was placed in an upper floor conference room, a location frequently used by senior department policymakers.

One official described the areas as “ highly sensitive.”

Moscow’s ambassador to the United States, Yuri V. Ushakov, was immediately summoned to the State Department and delivered a firm protest.

Last week, Russia ordered the expulsion of a U.S. diplomat in Moscow after accusing her of attempting to obtain secret military information from a Russian citizen.

Like the Russian Embassy employee here, the U.S. diplomat in Moscow, identified as Cheri Leberknight, a second secretary in the U.S. Embassy’s political section, cannot be charged with a crime because of diplomatic immunity.

At the time of Leberknight’s arrest, the FSB, Russia’s internal security service, released a black-and-white photograph of Leberknight and showed pictures of the high-tech espionage devices she was accused of having with her when she was taken into custody.

The expulsion order for the American diplomat in Moscow came just hours after the U.S. Navy said it had charged an enlisted man who had access to highly classified data with passing secrets to Russia in 1994.

Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel King, 40, was taken into military custody Nov. 5 and had confessed to disclosing classified information to Russia, the officials said. The alleged offense took place in 1994, when he worked in the Navy’s espionage unit.

Wednesday’s arrest and the two earlier incidents come at a time of both considerable tension in U.S.-Russia relations and extremely active diplomacy between the two countries. The United States has been trying to persuade Moscow to halt its military operations in Chechnya and is engaged in a delicate arms control dialogue that includes American efforts to reopen the Antiballistic Missile Treaty concluded between Washington and Moscow 27 years ago.

Renegotiation of the treaty is necessary if the United States wants to move forward with plans for a national missile defense system without breaking the accord.