Oil tycoons, bankers, and a state propagandist from Cyprus: what happened to the Kremlin’s deep-cover spies caught in the U.S.

Доступно на русском

Oil tycoons

The Oreshek dacha cooperative was registered on March 23, 2011, at a Moscow apartment on Ostrovityanova Street, with 15 people listed as co-founders. As a source with knowledge of the event told The Insider: “The idea was to build country houses in the same area and celebrate holidays together. They reached out to SVR Director Mikhail Fradkov. He told them to pick a plot of land in the Moscow region and he’d take care of the rest. As far as I know, they initially planned to acquire land in Podolsk, and mobster Luchok [Sergei Lalakin, whom The Insider recently profiled] promised to help. But three members were against Podolsk. Another location they considered was in the Dmitrovsky District, but some found it too remote.”

The cooperative was registered at the apartment belonging to its chairperson, Mikhail Kutzyk. As an illegal agent, Kutzyk operated in the U.S. under the name Michael Zottoli and cycled through a number of professions. His main tasks included receiving encoded radio transmissions from the Russian consulate in Seattle and setting up dead drops to store cash and forged documents in case of emergency. Another Oreshek co-founder was Kutzyk’s wife, Natalia Kutzyk-Pereverzeva, who had obtained fake Canadian identity papers in the U.S. under the name Patricia Mills. When FBI agents came for them, the couple did not resist and immediately admitted that they were working for Russian foreign intelligence.

In any event, the Kutzyks had blown their cover long before SVR officer Alexander Poteyev betrayed the illegals program to his American interlocutors. After the birth of their eldest son, Alex, Mikhail and Natalia obtained not only American documents but also a birth certificate from the Russian consulate in Seattle. During a covert search of their home, the FBI discovered the certificate, which only deepened American officials’ suspicions that the couple was involved in espionage.

“They might as well have worn ushanka hats and walked around with a balalaika,” a former SVR officer joked in a conversation with The Insider. Since their return to Russia, the Kutzyks’ elder son, Alexander, has graduated from the Moscow International School, while the younger one, Valentin, plays football for the Moscow-based club Juventus Black 2008 — though he hasn’t shown any particular promise.

The failed deep-cover agents were hired by Nikolai Tokarev, Putin’s former KGB colleague from the Dresden residency, to work at the oil company Transneft. Mikhail was appointed director of the tender department, while Natalia was tasked with heading the PR service. According to tax service data, his monthly salary at Transneft is 2.5 million rubles ($31,100), while she earns 2.8 million rubles ($34,850).

The couple also purchased a stake in Gazprom, and they receive dividends every year. In addition, they were invited to give lectures at the Academy of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan and the Academy of the State Security Service of Uzbekistan. It is unknown whether they told their audiences about the mistake they made with their eldest son’s birth certificate.

Fugitive “nuclear scientist”

Another board member of the Oreshek cooperative was Pavel Kapustin, who spied in the U.S. using the identity documents of Christopher Metsos, who died at the age of five and is buried in a Toronto suburb. Kapustin is the only one among the entire group of illegals whom the Americans failed to arrest, though the FBI has declared him wanted. “Metsos may have fled to Russia. He has travelled the world extensively. He may wear a moustache and eyeglasses. Metsos is trained in martial arts and holds a black belt,” the FBI’s notice states.

There are many gaps in Kapustin’s biography. Even before his special assignment to the U.S., he was investigated in connection with the mysterious disappearance from Nizhny Novgorod of a man named Popov, who was presumed murdered. Of particular interest to the investigators was how Kapustin had come into possession of SIM cards belonging to the missing Popov. However, the case eventually reached a dead end.

In the U.S., Kapustin hid dead drops for the Kutzyks, who used them to pass cash to other members of the spy network. When the arrests of the illegals began, someone tipped off “Metsos,” and he went on the run. Interpol detained him in Cyprus as he was preparing to fly to Budapest. During interrogation, he immediately admitted to being an SVR colonel. He was released on a $30,000 bail, then promptly disappeared, moving through Northern Cyprus and Syria on his way to Russia.

The Cypriot authorities seized a laptop from the spy but refused to hand it over to the FBI. However, the device turned out to be useless, as all of the files on its hard drive had self-destructed. Rumors circulated that one of the members of the Progressive Party of Working People of Cyprus (the former Communist Party of Cyprus), allegedly recruited by the KGB, helped Kapustin escape.

For a while, Kapustin was hidden in Moscow at an SVR safe house in Strogino under multiple cover identities. Even now, he has to take strict precautions, and over the past 12 years, he has flown to St. Petersburg and back only once. In conversations, he goes by the name Pavel Kameshkin, frequently changes SIM cards and phones, and rarely uses the internet.

To stay fit, Kapustin regularly visits the gym and the CSKA shooting range in Nakhabino. On Putin’s orders, Sergey Kiriyenko — who from 2005 to 2016 headed Rosatom before returning to the Kremlin as First Deputy Chief of Staff — helped the fugitive find a job. Kapustin now works as an adviser to the CEO at TVEL JSC, a nuclear fuel manufacturer. The Insider sent questions to Kapustin via email, but he did not respond.

State propagandist from Cyprus and his writer wife

In addition to the Kutzyks and fugitive Kapustin, the board of the Oreshek dacha cooperative includes Andrei Bezrukov and his wife, Elena Vavilova. While operating undercover in the U.S., Bezrukov used the identity Donald Howard Heathfield, and Vavilova went by Tracey Lee Ann Foley. Both worked in political intelligence for the KGB-SVR and, over the course of their 20 years of espionage, managed to establish extensive connections in the U.S. and Canada.

Bezrukov received an excellent education: he studied at the London School of Economics, holds a master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the Economics Department of York University in Toronto. “Tracy,” meanwhile, opened a travel agency specializing in tours to France before later working in real estate. A source privy to the inner workings of the Russian Presidential Administration told The Insider that during the joint performance of “Where the Motherland Begins” — which the spies sang with Putin after their return to Russia — the couple even teared up.

By Putin’s directive, Igor Sechin, head of oil giant Rosneft, appointed Bezrukov as his adviser, while Vladimir Potanin, owner of Norilsk Nickel, placed Vavilova in his secretariat. According to tax records, the head of the family earns 2.1 million rubles per month ($25,800), while Vavilova makes nearly 200,000 ( $2,450).

Together with GRU special forces veteran Andrei Bronnikov, Vavilova released The Woman Who Can Keep Secrets («Женщина, которая умеет хранить тайны»), along with several other books. The illegal agent often appears on TV, but she steers clear of politics. Her husband, however, is a different story: Bezrukov is a member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and a frequent guest on propaganda TV shows. He blames the U.S. for nearly all of Russia’s problems and refers to Ukraine as “a guard dog on a chain — it's the owner you need to talk to.”

However, Bezrukov tries to avoid targeting EU and NATO countries too explicitly, and the reason is simple: as The Insider discovered, the sentimental ex-SVR colonel obtained a Cypriot passport and travels to Europe.

In addition to frequent trips to Cyprus, he has visited Italy and the United Kingdom. The former spy watches the negotiations over Cyprus’s potential NATO membership with concern: if it happens, as a dual citizen of an Alliance country, he will likely have to leave the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, the Association for Export of Technological Sovereignty, and possibly MGIMO, where he teaches in the Department of Applied Analysis of International Problems.

The illegals' sons turned out to be much more practical and dropped their surname. Older brother Tim goes by Fleming (in honor of the author who created James Bond), while Alex now goes by Forn. The brothers travel extensively and even visited the U.S. in 2017 — the same country that deported them with their parents in 2010. Additionally, they managed to regain their Canadian citizenship and, according to some reports, have already left Russia.

The Insider sent questions to Bezrukov by email regarding his second citizenship, but he did not respond.

“Military courier” and journalist

Another “ghost” on the board of the Oreshek cooperative is Mikhail Vasenkov, a KGB and later SVR colonel who lived in the U.S. under the identity of Juan José Lazaro Fuentes, who died in 1942 at the age of three. Vasenkov began his espionage career in 1975 when he was sent to Peru under the guise of a Spanish businessman. In 1983, he married Peruvian journalist Virginia Peláez, who held leftist views. During the filming of a report, Peláez was kidnapped by the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and was forced to read their message to the Peruvian government. After this incident, the family moved to the U.S.

In New York, Vasenkov worked as a photographer and headed the illegal residency of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, which included journalists, businessmen, and members of left-wing youth organizations. In 1990, by a secret decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Vasenkov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In 2020, current SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin called Vasenkov an outstanding intelligence officer: “In carrying out Service assignments, Vasenkov consistently demonstrated his characteristic endurance, decisiveness, and courage, combined with prudence and caution.”

Vasenkov came onto the FBI’s radar in 2002 thanks to his wife, Peláez, who worked for the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario La Prensa and expressed admiration for Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez. The FBI planted bugs in their home, and soon the surveillance recorded Vasenkov instructing his wife on methods of communication with Moscow. On another occasion, the drunken illegal agent criticized the Center for underestimating his work.

After his arrest in 2010, Vasenkov at first refused to admit to working for Russian intelligence. Then defector Poteyev visited his cell and presented his personal file, seized from Moscow. During a meeting with a Russian embassy official, Vasenkov stated that he did not want to return to Russia and asked the Americans to deport him to Peru. Russian pro-government newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda mocked his request in an article titled “Is the Smoke of the Motherland Not Sweet?”

All those years, Vasenkov’s wife, Marina, had been waiting for him. When they finally reunited in a Moscow café, he was 68 and she was 65.

As in other cases, Putin made sure the failed deep-cover agents were given well-paid positions. Vasenkov was brought into the secretariat of the head of the Feldyeger (military courier) Service, then headed by former KGB officer Gennady Kornienko, who also served in the FSB and the Federal Protective Service (the presidential guard). The Peruvian Peláez, meanwhile, was hired by RIA Novosti. In addition, the SVR purchased an apartment for the couple in a historic building on Plyushchikha Street. The property is valued at $614,600.

However, Vasenkov and Peláez did not feel at ease in Moscow and frequently traveled to Madrid and Amsterdam, raising suspicions within the FSB. In 2013, they were finally granted permission to move to Peru. In April 2022, Vasenkov died suddenly in the Peruvian city of Cusco. The farewell ceremony followed ancient Incan tradition. After cremation, his ashes were brought back to Moscow and buried at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.

Banker, investor, metallurgist

Vladimir and Lidia Guryev also co-founded the Oreshek cooperative. Before their arrest, they were known in New York as Richard and Cynthia Murphy. Lidia was vice president of the company Morea Financial Services and was part of the circle around Democratic Party donor Alan Patricof. Her husband gathered intelligence on U.S. policy in the Middle East. In New Jersey, the illegals lived lavishly and, despite the Center’s prohibition, purchased a house in the Montclair suburbs for half a million dollars. FBI surveillance also documented secret meetings between Guryev and the previously mentioned fugitive Metsos-Kapustin, as well as the Kutzyk couple.

After the exchange, Lidia was employed at Vnesheconombank (now VEB.RF) with an annual salary of 18.5 million rubles ($227,400), while her husband was taken on by Yuri Kudimov, head of the investment fund Pangeo Capital.

Kudimov has a story of his own. After graduating from the KGB Higher School, he worked under the cover of a journalist for Komsomolskaya Pravda and Novoye Vremya, while spying in England and Mexico. In 1985 he was expelled from the UK for espionage and later went into business, using his companies to finance pro-Kremlin “opposition” parties in Europe. In 2014, British journalist Luke Harding reported that Kudimov had sponsored the election campaign of France’s National Front leader Marine Le Pen. However, the ex-spy succeeded in having his name removed from the journalist’s article. In June 2024, Lithuania stripped Kudimov of his citizenship, citing “a threat to security interests.”

Another member of the Oreshek cooperative was Mikhail Semenko, who was included in the exchange along with the other illegals. In the U.S., he lived under his real name and worked at the travel agency Travel All Russia. FBI surveillance first spotted Semenko two years before his arrest, when he transmitted information from an internet café in Washington to the driver of a car parked nearby in the Russian embassy garage.

Before being sent to the U.S., he lived in Blagoveshchensk in the Russian Far East, but after his return the SVR bought him an apartment in Moscow on Khoroshevskoye Highway and a dacha in the Dmitrovsky District near the capital. His employment was arranged by Igor Zyuzin, the Kremlin-connected owner of the metallurgical company Mechel. Semenko’s monthly salary at Mechel comes in at 550,000 rubles ($6,700). He travels extensively, and over the past six years he has visited Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Japan, China, Turkey, Bahrain, and the Maldives.

Retiree, ex-residency chief, and spies under the roof of state corporations

The cooperative’s board also includes former KGB officer Vasily Kushchenko, who previously spied in Kenya under diplomatic cover. His name was not on the exchange list. However, he is the father of arguably the most famous spy among the failed illegals: Anna Chapman, nicknamed “Agent 90-60-90.”

The SVR recruited Anna Kushchenko while she was studying at the Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship (RUDN). At a party during a tourist trip to London, Kushchenko met Alex Chapman, an employee at a recording studio. They married in 2002 and lived in Moscow before moving to London after her graduation from RUDN. There, they founded Southern Union and, through shell companies, helped Zimbabwean citizens living in the UK transfer money back home.

However, family life didn’t work out, and Chapman, who took her husband’s surname, returned to Russia. In Moscow, she tried her hand at real estate but quickly went bust. In early 2010, the SVR sent the attractive spy to the U.S. She came under FBI surveillance almost immediately — sending messages to her handler, who worked under diplomatic cover at the Russian mission to the UN in New York.

A few days before Chapman’s arrest, an FBI agent posing as her new handler asked her to deliver a fake American passport and gifts for one of the SVR deputy directors. Sensing something was wrong and forgetting all the rules of tradecraft, Chapman contacted other members of the spy residency — and even called her father in Moscow on a regular mobile phone.

Kushchenko advised his daughter to go to the police and report that a provocation was being prepared against her. She went to the police, where she was detained and charged with illegal cooperation with Russian intelligence. A few days later, British authorities revoked her British citizenship. By Putin’s order, the Russian authorities took no disciplinary actions against Chapman for exposing residency staff in New York.

After the exchange, she lived in a safe house on Lyalin Lane in Moscow. Later, the SVR bought her an apartment on Arbat Street and provided her with a plot of land in the Podolsk district. Alexander Volovnik, head of Fundservicebank, appointed Chapman as his adviser, a position she held until Volovnik’s imprisonment in 2024. (He was sentenced to 19 years for multi-billion-ruble embezzlement.)

Meanwhile, the former spy joined the pro-Kremlin movement Young Guard, launched a clothing line under the brand “Anna Chapman,” and hosts a low-rated TV show on Ren-TV called Chapman’s Secrets, where she frequently praises Putin and criticizes the West. Flight records show that Chapman prefers vacationing in Naples, the UAE, Turkey, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Indian state of Goa.

Among the other co-founders of the Oreshek dacha cooperative are Yuri Banny, Alexey Ivanov, and the Samarsky spouses. They were not on the exchange list. However, as The Insider discovered, SVR colonel Banny was the direct Moscow handler for the U.S.-based illegals. After the scandal surrounding their capture, he was dismissed and now heads the non-profit organization Center for Quality Assessment of Pesticides and Agrochemicals.

Career intelligence officer Alexey Samarsky is seconded to Zarubezhneft, while Alexey Ivanov holds the position of Deputy Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy at Rostec. In other words, he oversees SVR officers engaged in espionage at Rostec’s foreign offices.

In the end, the failed spies never settled on a parcel of land for the dacha settlement’s construction. Due to unpaid taxes, the Oreshek cooperative was dissolved.