Russia and the US have sought to cool a heated scandal sparked by the arrest of 11 suspected spies, amid fears the Cold War-style furore could harm improving ties.
The White House declined to explicitly condemn Russia after the arrests, while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed hope that bilateral ties would not be harmed.
A leading Russian newspaper reported meanwhile that Russian officials had even been ordered to keep quiet on the situation to avoid inflaming tensions further.
The US Justice Department said that 10 ‘deep-cover’ suspects, accused of infiltrating US policymaking for the Kremlin, had been detained on suspicion of seeking details of US nuclear weapons and foreign policy.
Police in Cyprus arrested an 11th suspect, 54-year-old Christopher Metsos, who was picked up trying to board a flight to Budapest after immigration officers discovered his name on a stop list.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was repeatedly goaded in his daily briefing to condemn Russia over the alleged spies, but styled the operation as solely a ‘law enforcement’ matter.
The State Department meanwhile styled the episode as a remnant of the Cold War covert intelligence struggle between spymasters in Moscow and Washington that would not have a lasting impact on ties.
The scandal remains a major embarrassment for the White House and the Kremlin, not least because it broke just days after US President Barack Obama met his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev for a summit.
The White House said Mr Obama knew the FBI was closing in on the 11 alleged spies when he met Mr Medvedev at the summit although he did not mention it.
Ex-KGB agent Mr Putin - who by an odd coincidence was meeting former US president Bill Clinton in Moscow today - was critical of the arrests but said he hoped they would not impact on ties.
Russian media poured scorn on the scandal, with newspapers fuming that the affair had been trumped up by elements inside the US bent on discrediting Obama's policy of reconciliation with Russia.
‘The highest-profile Russia spy scandal in the United States looks like the most unconvincing and most unnecessary,’ said Kommersant.
Tvoi Den, one of Russia's most popular tabloid newspapers, added: ‘US special services let their president down conducting the silliest operation to capture sham Russian spies.’
