Moscow

WASHINGTON — CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, who betrayed Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia in one of the most damaging intelligence breaches in U.S. history, has died in a Maryland prison. He was 84.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons confirmed Ames died Monday.

Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, admitted being paid $2.5 million by Moscow for U.S. secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994. His disclosures included the identities of 10 Russian officials and one Eastern European who were spying for the United States or Great Britain, along with spy satellite operations, eavesdropping and general spy procedures. His betrayals are blamed for the executions of Western agents working behind the Iron Curtain and were a major setback to the CIA during the Cold War.

He pleaded guilty without a trial to espionage and tax evasion and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Prosecutors said he deprived the United States of valuable intelligence material for years.

He professed “profound shame and guilt” for “this betrayal of trust, done for the basest motives,” money to pay debts. But he downplayed the damage he caused, telling the court he did not believe he had “noticeably damaged” the United States or “noticeably aided” Moscow.

“These spy wars are a sideshow which have had no real impact on our significant security interests over the years,” he told the court, questioning the value that leaders of any country derived from vast networks of human spies around the globe.

In a jailhouse interview with the Washington Post the day before he was sentenced, Ames said he was motivated to spy by “financial troubles, immediate and continuing.”

Ames was working in the Soviet/Eastern European division at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Va., when he first approached the KGB, according to an FBI history of the case. He continued passing secrets to the Soviets while stationed in Rome for the CIA and after returning to Washington. Meanwhile, the U.S. intelligence community was frantically trying to figure out why so many agents were being discovered by Moscow.

Ames’ spying coincided with that of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who was caught in 2001 and charged with taking $1.4 million in cash and diamonds to sell secrets to Moscow. He died in prison in 2023.

Ames’ wife, Rosario, pleaded guilty to lesser espionage charges of assisting his spying and was sentenced to 63 months in prison.

Three people – including two police officers – have been killed in an explosion in Moscow, Russian authorities have said.

Two traffic police officers saw a “suspicious individual” near a police car on the city’s Yeletskaya Street, and when they approached the suspect to detain him, an explosive device was detonated, Russia’s Investigative Committee has said.

Reports in Russia say the third person killed was the suspect, but this has not been officially confirmed.

The blast took place close to the location where a senior Russian general was killed in a car bombing in the capital on Monday. Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov died after an explosive device – which had been planted under a car – was detonated.

Investigate Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement on Telegram that a criminal case was being investigated in Moscow “regarding an attempt on the lives of traffic police officers”.

The officers have been named by Russian media as Ilya Klimanov, 24, and Maxim Gorbunov, 25.

Sources in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, HUR, told the BBC that a local resident, eliminated two representatives of the Russian law enforcement agency, “as a sign of disagreement with the Kremlin’s aggressive policy” and said that a man “threw an explosive package through the car window, causing an explosion”.

According to the HUR sources, two other people were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Ukrainian military sources also told the BBC on Wednesday that the two officers killed had “participated in hostilities against Ukraine,” and added there was “evidence of their involvement in the torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war”.

There are no details and Moscow has not commented.

Speaking to Reuters news agency, Alexander, a resident who lives close by, said: “There was an explosion.

“It was loud bang – like with the car a few days ago.”

Russia said it suspected Ukraine was behind Monday’s explosion, without providing any evidence.

However Ukraine has not said whether it was involved in Fanil Sarvarov’s death.

It is also not known whether the two explosions are linked.

Sarvarov, 56, was the head of the armed forces’ operational training department.

He was the third military official to have been killed in bomb attacks in the Russian capital over the last year.

A Russian general was killed in Moscow on Monday when an explosive device detonated underneath his car. Authorities say they are investigating whether Ukrainian special services were involved.