The arrests come after President Barack Obama met his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Washington, praising him as a "solid and reliable
partner" and taking him out to a burger restaurant.

As well as the 10 arrested in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia over the weekend, the FBI identified an eleventh suspect, known as "Christopher
R. Metsos" who remains at large.

The nature of their work was said to have been outlined in a secret message to two of those arrested: "You were sent to USA for long-term service
trip.

"Your education, bank accounts, car, house etc – all those serve one goal: fulfil your main mission, i.e. to search and develop ties in
policy-making circles in US ..."

Many of the details of the criminal complaints read like an outline of a John LeCarre novel.

A defendant known as "Anna Chapman" allegedly communicated with a Russian official in Manhattan in January as she sat in a coffee shop and he
pulled up outside in a van. The FBI alleges that they used a wireless
network via paired computers.

Two months later, a similar communication allegedly took place when she was in a bookshop and the Russian official, based at Russia's mission to the United
Nations, was outside with a briefcase.

Chapman was later approached by an FBI agent posing as a Russian who told her: "My name is Roman, I work in the consulate."

He told her to give a false passport to another agent and that she was to introduce herself her by saying: "Excuse me but haven't we met in
California last summer?" The other agent was to reply: "No, I
think it was in the Hamptons."

A message from alleged conspirators in Boston gave details about a new head of the CIA and the 2008 presidential election gained from a "former
legislative counsel for US Congress".

The complaint also detailed how one of the accused known as "Donald Howard Heathfield" met a former high-ranking US government official to
discuss "research programmes on small yield high penetration nuclear
devices.

An accused known as "Cynthia Murphy" allegedly sent back a number of reports about the global gold market.

Court papers allege that the defendants led ordinary suburban lives, "deepening" their false identities by taking ordinary
jobs, living as married couples, having children and even trying to buy
homes in the US.

Prosecutors claim: “Illegals will sometimes pursue degrees at target-country universities, obtain employment, and join relevant professional
associations; these activities deepen an illegal’s ‘legend’.

“Illegals often operate in pairs – being placed together by Moscow Centre while in Russia, so that they can live together and work together in a host
country, under the guise of a married couple.

“Illegals who are placed together and cohabit in the country to which they are assigned will often have children together; this further deepens an
illegal’s ‘legend’.”

Experts have expressed their astonishment at the scale and dedication of the scheme allegedly undertaken by SVR.

Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general who was a Soviet spy in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s under “legal” cover as a diplomat and Radio Moscow
correspondent, said he believed the project was more ambitious than similar
attempts by spies
during the cold war.

He told the New York Times: “It’s a return to the old days, but even in the worst years of the cold war, I think there were no more than 10 illegals in
the U.S., probably fewer.”

Breaking News: Gold Connection in the Russian Spy Ring Case

This is no rumor.

This comes straight from the complaint filed by the FBI in the unfolding case of the alleged embedded Russian spies operating on long-term assignment in the U.S.

For those who haven't yet caught wind of the story, let's get you caught up on the news a little before moving on.

FBI Breaks Up Alleged Russian Spy Ring in Deep Cover

The FBI has arrested 10 alleged Russian spies and broken up a "long term, deep cover" network of agents that spent years adopting American identities
and gathering an array of intelligence, from information about nuclear
weapons to the gold market and personnel changes at the CIA.

In an indictment that might have been taken from the plot of a cold war thriller, the FBI alleges that the Russian intelligence service, the
SVR, sent spies to live in the US under false names with the intent of
becoming so Americanised they could build relationships with sources
and gather information without raising suspicion. Some of the agents
lived as married couples and had children who have grown up as
Americans unaware that their parents are Russian.

The FBI alleges that the accused spies were able to get close to a scientist working with "bunker-buster" nuclear bombs and a New York financier with
powerful political ties.

10 Alleged Russian Secret Agents Arrested in U.S.

WASHINGTON – The FBI has arrested 10 people for allegedly serving for years as secret agents of Russia's intelligence organ, the SVR, with the goal of
penetrating U.S. government policymaking circles.

According to court papers unsealed Monday, the FBI intercepted a message from SVR headquarters, Moscow Center, to two of the defendants describing their
main mission as "to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in
US." Intercepted messages showed they were asked to learn about a broad
swath of topics including nuclear weapons, U.S. arms control positions,
Iran, White House rumors, CIA leadership turnover, the last
presidential election, the Congress and political parties.

After a secret multiyear investigation, the Justice Department announced the arrests Monday in a blockbuster spy case that could rival the capture
of Soviet Col. Rudolf Abel in 1957 in New York.

---

Now ... that's the coverage thus far. But one editor at the Financial Times in London has blogged about some very interesting excerpts from the complaint filed by the Justice Department with the District Court in New York. You can find the entire 37-page complaint filed here.

According to the report, one of the alleged spies, identified as Cynthia Murphy, made a connection with a financier in New York with some high-level
friends and connections.  The document states:

"In a message dated "Feb 3 09", the New Jersey Conspirators reported that, through her work, Cynthis Murphy, the defendant, "had several work-related
personal meetings with [a priminent New York financier, name omitted],
and a personal friend of [a current Cabinet official, name omitted].

A response from Moscow Center indicated that the financier "is checked in C's database - he is clean. Of course he is a very interesting
'target'. Try to build up little by little relations with him moving
beyond just [work] framework. Maybe he can provide [Murphy] with
remarks re U.S. foreign policy, 'roumors' [sic] about White House
internal 'kitchen', invite her to venues (to [major political party HQ
in NYC], for instance, etc. In short, consider carefully all options in
regard to [financier].

---

That's the set-up, but now look at the one mention of gold (that I am aware of thus far) with respect to the defendant's 'target':

On a number of other occasions, the SVR specifically indicated that information collected and conveyed by the New Jersey Conspirators was especially valuable. Thus, for example,
during the summer and fall of 2009, Cynthia Murphy, the defendant,
using contacts she had met in New York, conveyed a number of reports to
Center about prospects for the global gold market. In October of 2009,
the SVR responded: "Info: on gold - v. usefull [sic]. It was sent
directly (after due adaptation) to Min[.] of Fin[ance], Min[.] of
Ec[onomic] Devel[opment].

---

Just the very thought that a Russian spy program would find information on "prospects for the global gold market" a "very useful" intelligence stream is enough to make this
story a fascinating development for those who have been tracking the
myriad questions and allegations surrounding price suppression and
coordinated manipulation of the gold market. I fully expect GATA to
have a field day with this one, and well they are warranted in doing
so. 

I will share more information, thoughts, and analysis in due course, but I wanted to get the meat of this story out to my community in a timely fashion for your own consideration. Stay tuned ... you
haven't heard the last of the relevance of this case to the gold
market.