A purported U.S. citizen said to have spied on Ukrainian forces for Moscow has now been extracted from the embattled country’s eastern Donetsk region by Kremlin forces, according to Russian state media.
Several government-aligned outlets have published a picture of the man, who has not been formally identified and whose face has been obscured in the photo, wearing civilian clothes and embracing members of what appears to be a Russian special forces unit.
Citing “privacy concerns,” the U.S. embassy in Moscow has declined to comment on the reports.
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Reuters says it has been unable to independently verify Russian state media claims that Kremlin forces have been heard referring to the alleged U.S. national by the name “Kenneth M.”
Media coverage in Moscow has further dubbed the purported spy, who is thought to have been extracted from eastern Ukraine over the weekend, as The Quiet American after a 1955 spy novel.
Penned by British author Graham Greene, the book follows the exploits of a U.K. journalist and CIA agent during the early days of the war in Vietnam.
Kremlin troops have been quoted as claiming the man had provided Russian forces with “valuable intelligence” for more than two years, enabling “precision strikes” to be carried out against the Ukrainian military.
Those forces have apparently said “the life of the rescued American is not in danger” and that “the issue of granting political asylum and becoming a citizen of Russia is being resolved.”
If confirmed, it wouldn’t represent the first time a U.S. national has defected to Russia in the course of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier in April, Wilmer Puello-Mota, a former city councilor from Holyoke, Massachusetts, enlisted in the Russian military after fleeing child sexual abuse images charges at home.
