Officials mull U.S., Russia spy suspect swap

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. and Russian officials met secretively on two continents Wednesday in a likely prelude to one of the largest swaps of accused spies in decades, a Cold War remix showing the high-stakes race for covert intelligence between East and West endures in the new century.

Five suspects charged with spying in the U.S. were hurriedly ordered to New York, joining five others already behind bars there, after a Russian arms-control researcher convicted of spying for the West came out of the cold of his forlorn penal colony by the Arctic Circle and was transferred to Moscow.

Researcher Igor Sutyagin signed a confession even while continuing to assert his innocence, his brother said, describing that event as one in a series laying the groundwork for Russia to release him and others accused of espionage in exchange for members of an alleged spy ring broken in the U.S.

Officials in neither country would confirm a swap was in the works. But the machinations had all the hallmarks as the two former Cold War antagonists moved to tamp down tensions stirred by the U.S. arrests.

The trade could be the largest since 25 prisoners in Poland and East Germany and four in the United States were exchanged in 1985.