Former US Green Beret sentenced for espionage
A FORMER US army Green Beret who admitted divulging military secrets to Russia over a 15-year period has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.
Peter Dzibinski Debbins, 46, supplied Russian spies with details on the activities of his Special Forces unit overseas and the names of fellow soldiers.
He became involved with Russian intelligence while still a student and was assigned the code name “Ikar Lesnikov”.
Debbins said: “I had a messianic vision for myself in
Russia, that I was going to free them from their oppressive government, so I was flattered when they reached out to me.”
The soldier received nominal payments for the information he supplied and the court heard he received a bottle of cognac and a Russian military uniform.
Debbins joined the US army in 1998 but was discharged in 2005 for a security violation after he relocated his wife to Azerbaijan and provided her with a US government mobile phone. He was sentenced to 15 years, eight months at a court in Virginia.