 |
Christopher Robert MetsosCanadian citizen accused by US authorities of working for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
Country:
 Canada |
Content:
Biography of Christopher Robert Metsos
Christopher Robert Metsos, a Canadian citizen, was accused by US authorities in June 2010 of working for the Russian External Intelligence Service. While ten of his alleged accomplices were arrested in the US, Metsos was arrested in Cyprus, released on bail, but disappeared the next day. According to the Cyprus police and the FBI, Christopher Robert Metsos was a Canadian citizen who regularly visited the US. He was born, presumably, in 1955 or 1956 and lived in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, in the 1990s. In 1994, he studied at Norwich University in Vermont, one of the military colleges in the US that also enrolls civilian students. Metsos excelled academically for one semester, but then took a leave of absence and did not return to the university.
Notoriety and Accusations
Metsos gained notoriety in 2010 when a network of secret agents working for foreign intelligence, primarily the Russian External Intelligence Service, was uncovered in the US. On June 27, Anna Chapman, Mikhail Semenko, Vicky Pelaez, Donald Heathfield, Michael Zottoli, and five others were arrested in the US. They were accused of attempting to obtain information about US nuclear weapons, policies towards Iran, CIA directors, and congressmen. According to the investigation, Metsos was the only one in the group who did not reside in the US, but he visited the country at least four times between 2001 and 2005 and met with another arrested individual, Richard Murphy. In May 2004, Metsos allegedly received a package of money from a second secretary of the Russian diplomatic mission to the UN in New York. He shared part of the money with Murphy and buried the rest in a suburb of New York, from where Zottoli later retrieved it. Because of this, Metsos was referred to as the "treasurer" or even the organizer of the spy ring. In addition to his secret collaboration with foreign intelligence agencies, he was also accused of attempting money laundering.
Arrest, Release, and Disappearance
On June 17, 2010, Metsos arrived in Cyprus. On June 25, the Cypriot police received an international arrest warrant for him, and on June 29, he was detained at Larnaca airport while attempting to fly to Budapest. A Greek judge released Metsos on bail (reported to be between 20,000 and 27,000 euros) pending a decision on extradition. He returned to his hotel, paid for two weeks of accommodation, and locked himself in his room. On the morning of June 30, neither Metsos nor his belongings were found in the room, and he did not appear at the police station as required by the conditions of his release on bail. It was speculated that Metsos could have easily crossed to the northern part of the island and then sailed to Turkey or Syria.
The press noted that Metsos and the other ten arrested individuals were accused not of espionage, but of covertly working for foreign intelligence, as they failed to obtain any classified information. On July 7, 2010, it was announced that Russia and the US had reached an agreement at the highest level to exchange the detained agents in the US for several prisoners accused by Russia of espionage and treason. On July 8, all the other detainees in the US pleaded guilty. On the same day, the court ordered their immediate extradition to Russia, and they left US territory. It was reported that in exchange, Russia deported Igor Sutyagin, Sergey Skripal, Alexander Zaporozhsky, and Gennady Vasilenko. No information was provided regarding Metsos' fate.
According to information provided by his lawyer, Metsos divorced fifteen years ago and had a son who lived in Paris.
