Pelaez says never suspected her husband of spying for Russia
05:07 21/02/2011
MEXICO, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - Peruvian-born journalist Vicky Pelaez, accused of being in an espionage ring for Russia in the United States, said she never worked for the Russian secret service and did not suspect that her husband was involved.
Pelaez and nine others were arrested in the United States last June on charges of espionage on behalf of Russia. Later she was released on $250,000 bail.
"I found out that my husband [Mikhail Vasenkov] is a Russian spy only two hours prior a verdict from a U.S. court. I have never spied neither for any country, nor for any political party and was always a journalist," Pelaez, who is currently in Peru to attend her father's funeral, told local media.
According to Pelaez, her husband Vasenkov, aka Juan Lazaro, never told her of his secret work for the Russian government.
"My husband was a model of a family man, a good father and never told me that he is a Russian spy so not to hurt me or expose me to danger. I am not aggrieved and has forgiven him," Pelaez said.
Pelaez, who claims that she currently entered Peru using her Peruvian passport, says that for now she misses her sons, who decided to stay in the United States.
She added that she also has a Russian citizenship and resides with her husband in Moscow and has no plans of returning to live in Peru.
Pelaez is believed to be the only one of the 10 spies who pleaded guilty in the U.S. court who was not a Russian citizen. The 10 were quickly flown out of the United States in an exchange for four people convicted of spying in Russia for the West.
Peruvian media reported last year that Pelaez had decided to return home despite being promised a Moscow apartment, visas and air tickets to Moscow for her children, as well as a $2,000 monthly pension for life.
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