Russia on Tuesday said it had detained an alleged American CIA agent working undercover at the US embassy who was discovered with a large stash of money trying to recruit a Russian agent.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB, ex-KGB) identified the man as Ryan C Fogle — third secretary of the political section of Washington's embassy in Moscow — and said he had been handed back to the embassy after his detention.
The Ministry said it was summoning US ambassador Michael McFaul on Wednesday for an explanation and slammed Washington for what it described as "provocative acts in the spirit of the Cold War". In a complete contrast to the joint pledges for intelligence cooperation after the Boston bombings, it declared Fogle a persona non grata and said he must return to the US "as soon as possible". Photographs published by state English language television RT showed a baseball-capped Fogle being held to the ground face down and having his hands put behind his back for the arrest.