A former U.S. Army captain has been charged for allegedly conspiring to deliver defense information to Russian agents working for the country’s military intelligence agency after they first established contact with him back in the mid-1990s.
According to the Department of Justice, Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, started traveling to Russia beginning in 1994 and, while on an independent study program in 1996, held meetings with at least one foreign intelligence agent. He allegedly told the agent he was a “son of Russia,” and the DOJ says he subsequently met with at least six other foreign intelligence agents up until about 2010.
In meetings over the years, Debbins allegedly received an official nickname from the Russian intelligence agency, signed a statement pledging to “serve Russia,” and forwarded U.S. military information to the Russian agents, according to an indictment.
“Debbins violated his oath as a U.S. Army office, betrayed the Special Forces and endangered our country’s national security by revealing classified information to Russian intelligence officers, providing details of his unit, and identifying Special Forces team members for Russian intelligence to try to recruit as a spy,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for National Security, in a statement Friday.
“Our country put its highest trust in this defendant, and he took that trust and weaponized it against the United States,” he said.
While the Department of Justice alleges Debbins acted out of fealty toward Russia and disgust over the role of the United States military in the world, Debbins also signed for a $1,000 payment from the Russian agents using his codename, “Ikar Lesnikov.”
Around 2003, Debbins allegedly accepted a bottle of cognac and a Russian military uniform as a gift from two Russian agents, who also offered to train him to deceive polygraph tests, according to the indictment.
After Debbins left the active duty military in the mid-2000s, he allegedly again traveled to Russia to meet with the foreign agents and discussed potential business opportunities, but one agent suggested he pursue U.S. government work instead.
In the final 2010 meeting outlined by the indictment, prosecutors suggest Debbins told the Russian agents he didn’t bring a flash drive of U.S. military field manuals with him because he was scared the Department of Homeland Security would find them.
“The facts alleged in this case are a shocking betrayal by a former Army officer of his fellow soldiers and his country,” said Alan Kohler Jr., assistant director for counter intelligence at the FBI.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the DOJ charged a former CIA official, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, earlier this week for allegedly sending top secret information to Chinese officials over the course of a decade, a conspiracy that the department accused him of beginning in 2001.
“Two espionage arrests in the past week — Ma in Hawaii and now Debbins in Virginia — demonstrate that we must remain vigilant against espionage from our two most malicious adversaries — Russia and China,” said Demers.
Both Ma and Debbins face up to life in prison if convicted.