Deal-making mysterious as U.S., Russia swap spies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With its secret identities and clandestine meetings, the Russian spy saga seemed made to be a Hollywood blockbuster. But the spies won't be allowed to profit from it, at least in the United States.

U.S. officials said the 10 agents expelled from the United States on Thursday in exchange for four Russian prisoners had signed plea agreements forfeiting their U.S. properties and bank accounts, as well as the right to sell their stories in any form.

"That is a not uncommon provision ... in cases like this that enjoy a certain notoriety," said one senior administration official, briefing reporters after Washington and Moscow agreed one of their biggest spy swaps since the end of the Cold War. "It is not something unique to this case."

Aside from that detail -- a disappointment, perhaps, to the attractive 28-year-old agent labeled a Russian "femme fatale" by U.S. media -- officials were cautious with information about the exchange that defused a potential diplomatic clash just as ties are warming.

"We just can't get into operational details," another senior official said, declining to discuss the identities or itineraries of any of the spies involved.

It is clear that Washington and Moscow moved quickly after the June 27 arrest of the 10 suspects, who had been living quiet lives under deep cover in U.S. suburbia while they sought to gather information.

"We drove the terms of this arrangement," the second official said, adding that Moscow -- after first rejecting the charges -- quickly began playing along.

"The Russian government did move quite quickly, including by immediately acknowledging the Russian citizenship of the individuals involved," the official said. "After that, we moved relatively quickly to talk about the terms of an arrangement."

"IT IS SIGNIFICANT"

With both sides worried about diplomatic fallout, the deal began to take shape. Russia transferred to a Moscow jail four people who were imprisoned for suspected contact with Western intelligence agencies, the U.S. officials said, although they declined to identify them.

These four were then approached and offered the opportunity to take part in the swap.

"We explained the opportunity they had to leave Russia, accompanied by members of their family, if they so desired," the official said. "It was a Russian government condition that each of the four individuals sign a statement admitting guilt as part of an application for pardon."

The U.S. official declined to be drawn on whether the four actually had been Western spies.

"These are individuals who had been detained in Russia on charges of working on behalf of western governments in Russia," the official said. "I'm not going beyond that statement."

Despite the many mysteries still surrounding the case, U.S. officials were eager to depict the cracking of the spy ring and the deal with Moscow as a triumph of U.S. counter-intelligence and diplomatic finesse.

"It is significant, the way in which the aftermath, the resolution of this case, has been handled quickly and pragmatically and I think that says something about the progress that we've made in the relationship," the official said.

"There's also no doubt that the rolling up of this network is a significant success for our law enforcement and intelligence community and I think will have a lasting impact on the capacity of the Russians in the future."

(Editing by John O'Callaghan)