US considered spy swap before arrest of Russian agents

The US considered the possibility of a spy swap with Moscow more than two weeks before it arrested 10 Russian agents, US officials said.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the ring on 11 June, 13 days before he hosted the Russian president at the White House and 16 before the arrests.

No decision was made on the swap until after the arrests, the officials said.

The 10 agents were swapped in Vienna on Friday for four Russians convicted of spying for the West.

Planning to leave

The timeline of the spy ring case in the US suggests American intelligence agencies were tracking the Russian agents for up to a decade.