Aug. 23 (UPI) — Federal agents on Friday arrested a former U.S. Army Green Beret accused of spying for Russia for years, alleging he visited the country and met with Russian intelligence officers to give away top-secret information.
Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, of Gainesville, Va., was accused of conspiring with the Russian intelligence service between December 1996 and January 2011. Debbins is accused of providing classified information to foreign adversaries.
Debbins allegedly provided Russian intelligence with information about his Special Forces unit and passed on names and contact information for his fellow Green Berets so agents could approach them to see if they wanted to cooperate with the Russian intelligence service, a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said.
“When service members collude to provide classified information to our foreign adversaries, they betray the oaths they swore to their country and their fellow service members,” U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger said in a statement. “We will be steadfast and dogged in holding such individuals accountable.”
Debbins, whose mother was born in the Soviet Union, was issued top-security clearance during his stint with the Green Berets, which ended with an honorable discharge in 2005, the federal indictment said. Debbins allegedly contacted Russian agents, saying he was a “son of Russia” in 1996 when he was participating in ROTC at the University of Minnesota. He operated under the code name “Ikar Lesnikov.”
In 1997, Debbins married a Russian woman, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2010, the indictment said. His father-in-law was a member of the Russian military, the charging document said.
Debbins continued to pass information to the Russians while working for a Ukrainian steel manufacturer in Minnesota until 2011. According to the indictment, Debbins was once paid $1,000 as a gift of “gratitude” by Russian agents, and initially refused, but then accepted the payment.
“Debbins violated his oath as a U.S. Army officer, betrayed the Special Forces and endangered our country’s national security by revealing classified information to Russian intelligence officers, providing details of his unit, and identifying Special Forces team members for Russian intelligence to try to recruit as a spy,” said John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security in a statement. “Our country put its highest trust in this defendant, and he took that trust and weaponized it against the United States.”
If convicted, Debbins will face a sentence of life in prison.
