Russia investigated disappearance of suspected US spy as possible murder
Source: The Guardian
Russia investigated disappearance of suspected US spy as possible murder
Oleg Smolenkov hadnt been seen after he went on holiday in 2017, but Russian authorities concluded he had fled abroad
Marc Bennetts in Moscow, Julian Borger in Washington and Luke Harding in London
Tue 10 Sep 2019 16.53 BSTLast modified on Tue 10 Sep 2019 18.04 BST
The CIA Russian spy drama currently gripping Washington has taken a new turn as Russian media reported that a suspected US mole inside the Kremlin was a member of Vladimir Putins administration who disappeared in 2017 and was initially thought to have been murdered.
Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed the man, Oleg Smolenkov, had worked for the Kremlin but played down his importance, insisting he was a low-level employee who had been fired two years ago.
The Russian news site Daily Storm reported in September 2017 that Smolenkov, who had once worked in the Russian embassy in Washington, had not been seen since he went on holiday with his wife and three children to Montenegro in June of that year. The Russian authorities first investigated the disappearance as a possible murder but then became convinced that Smolenkov was still alive and living abroad.
On Monday night, the New York Times and Washington Post confirmed a CNN report that a US agent inside the Kremlin had been spirited out to the US after concerns about his safety, but they did not name the spy.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/10/us-spy-russia-kremlin-putin-administration-trump