Russia has offered a mass Cold War-style ‘spy swap’ deal to the U.S., it has been claimed.

The deal could see up to 11 convicted spies – allegedly including a Russian colonel – exchanged for ‘femme fatale’ Anna Chapman and her co-accused. Chapman is being held with nine others in the U.S. on accusations of being part of a ‘deep cover’ spy ring in the U.S.

Dmitry Sutyagin said his brother Igor, a former Russian nuclear researcher jailed on charged of spying for the West, was told he will be part of the group. The officials met Igor Sutyagin on Monday at a prison in Arkhangelsk, in northwestern Russia, and U.S. officials were at the meeting, his brother said.

Sutyagin said he was made to sign a confession, although he maintains his innocence and does not want to leave Russia, his brother said. After the meeting, Sutyagin was transferred to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. He was arrested in 1999 and convicted in 2004 on charges of passing information on nuclear submarines and missile-warning systems to a British company that investigators claimed was a CIA cover. Sutyagin’s lawyer said Moscow wanted the swap to take place tomorrow – and that her client would initially be sent to Britain.

According to his brother, Sutyagin said that the Russian officials had shown him a list of 11 people to be included in the swap.

The brother said Sutyagin only remembered one other person on the list – Sergei Skripal – a Russian army colonel who in 2006 was sentenced to 13 years on charges of spying for Britain. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Federal Penitentiary Service said they had no comment on the claim. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy was not immediately available for comment. In Washington, FBI spokesman William Carter declined to comment.

Sutyagin denied that he was spying, saying the information he provided was available from open sources. His case was one of several incidents of Russian academics and scientists being targeted by the Federal Security Service. They were accused of misusing classified information, revealing state secrets or, in some cases, espionage.

Last week the U.S. arrested 10 people in an alleged Russian spy ring. Prosecutors say for the last decade the ring has engaged in secret global travel with false passports, secret code words, fake names, invisible ink and encrypted radio.

The spies were allegedly trying to obtain information about American business, scientific and political affairs. They have been charged with acting as unregistered foreign agents. An 11th suspect was detained in Cyprus last week, but disappeared after being released on bail, triggering a wide manhunt by embarrassed Cypriot authorities. The U.S. government has opposed the release on bail of any of the defendants, saying they would flee if they had the opportunity. News of the swap emerged as the mother of one of the suspects, Anna Chapman, insisted her daughter was no ‘Mata Hari’. Irina Kuschenko also said her daughter was not top of the class – but insisted she was just a normal girl with a normal life.

But she admitted to Russian newspaper Tvoi Den that her daughter had never been able to rely on her parents, who were constantly away on diplomatic postings.

‘I don’t think Anna is a Mata Hari. She had the normal life of a 28-year-old woman,’ she was quoted as saying. ‘As an ex-teacher, I can say she never quite shined among her peers. But she was good, close to the top of her class.’ She added: ‘Anna was always an open, happy child.

‘She deeply loved her grandmother and grandfather and tried to hide from them whatever negative things were happening in her life. ‘Life was hard work for her…. She never counted on us. She always tried to achieve everything on her own.’

(Source: Telegraph UK)