MOSCOW. Nov 17 (Interfax) - The circumstances in which suspected double agent Colonel Alexander Poteyev, a former deputy head of the U.S. division of the "S" directorate within the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), are being looked into both as an internal inquiry and a criminal investigation, a Russian intelligence source told Interfax.
"As far as I know, a criminal case has been opened into Poteyev's treachery and it perhaps concerns high treason, a crime with which Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code deals. Investigators are working," the source said.
Such cases are usually investigated by the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The suspected double agent, who was at first reported as Colonel Shcherbakov, allegedly betrayed 11 Russian spies to the U.S. which ended in a spy swap deal between the two nations earlier this year.