Same firm has apparently made wigs for Moscow-based CIA operatives for decades
MOSCOW. May 16 (Interfax) - The wigs that were used by Central Intelligence Agency operative Ryan Christopher Fogle, who was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Moscow in the act of recruiting an officer of a Russian special service, are similar to those confiscated from CIA agent Michael Sellers, who was exposed in 1986.
Interfax has been informed that elements of the disguise kit used by Sellers, who was detained by Soviet KGB officers in March 1986, can be found in the FSB archives.
The wigs confiscated from Fogle are very similar to those used by Sellers.
Interfax has so far been unable to obtain official confirmation of the similarity of the two CIA operatives' wigs.
The media reported 27 years ago that U.S. Embassy second secretary Michael Sellers was detained on March 16, 1986, during a secret meeting with a Soviet citizen previously recruited by the U.S. intelligence service.
"Another espionage action by U.S. special services against the Soviet Union was thwarted," the media said then.
Sellers was declared persona non grata.
Soviet KGB officer Sergei Vorontsov, who volunteered to work for the CIA in 1984, was detained as well.
The operation to expose CIA agents was supervised by Rem Krasilnikov, who headed the British and American divisions of the KGB Second Main Department for many years.
According to some reports, more than ten CIA operatives, who were caught red-handed, were expelled from the Soviet Union in the mid 1980s.
Two years ago, the Russian counterintelligence service detected an upsurge in the U.S. intelligence service's activities in Russia. U.S. special services' plans to infiltrate Russian government agencies were observed. Special interest was displayed in Russian security services.
The Russian counterintelligence service cautioned the CIA against these steps through partners at the end of 2011. However, the CIA reportedly ignored this warning and continued attempts to infiltrate Russian special services.
It was reported earlier that Russia's Federal Security Service detained Ryan Christopher Fogle, a CIA operative, in the act of recruiting an officer of a Russian special service early on May 14. Fogle worked in Moscow as third secretary of the U.S. Embassy Political Department.
A Moscow map, a compass, glasses, two wigs and a cheap cell phone, which Fogle was supposed to throw away after calling the "candidate" about the meeting, were confiscated from him.