<p>A ring of Russian sleeper spies -- which included glamorous redhead Anna Chapman -- that was broken up in the US in 2010 intended to turn their children into intelligence agents, the Wall Street Journal reported.<br /><br /></p>.<p>However, according to RIA Novosti, Russian security analysts have said the spies may have simply wanted to ensure that Moscow continued to finance their children's education.<br /><br />At least one of the children agreed to join the spy operation, the American newspaper reported.<br /><br />The FBI swooped down on the ring, after investigators became concerned it had infiltrated a well-connected consulting firm operating in New York and Washington.<br /><br />The Wall Street Journal said Tim Foley, the son of spies who went by the names Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley, was one of the children most extensively groomed for a future intelligence career.<br /><br />Foley, who was 20 when his parents were arrested, had just finished his sophomore year at George Washington University in Washington D.C.<br /><br />Mobilising kids to do Russia's bidding was a clever strategy since people raised in America would likely raise fewer suspicions and would more easily pass security checks when they began operating as spies as adults, analysts said.<br /><br />Heathfield and Foley had lived with their son in the US for more than a decade. The boy ultimately agreed to his parents' request to join the family business, and to travel to Russia for espionage training, sources told the Wall Street Journal.<br /><br />A lawyer who defended Donald Heathfield against espionage charges dismissed the recruitment claims as "crap".<br /><br />But Russian security analysts said the reports were credible, although the goals may be misrepresented.<br /><br />"I don't think they wanted their children in the family business per se," said Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief and analyst at security think tank Agentura.ru.<br /><br />"What they wanted is to make use of state resources to further the careers of their children in the US or elsewhere," he said.<br /><br />Soldatov said it is a time-honoured practice for well-connected Russians to enlist with the intelligence services to give their children access to free English language studies abroad.<br />"Call it perpetuating corruption if you like, but it has nothing to do with spying," he said.</p>
<p>A ring of Russian sleeper spies -- which included glamorous redhead Anna Chapman -- that was broken up in the US in 2010 intended to turn their children into intelligence agents, the Wall Street Journal reported.<br /><br /></p>.<p>However, according to RIA Novosti, Russian security analysts have said the spies may have simply wanted to ensure that Moscow continued to finance their children's education.<br /><br />At least one of the children agreed to join the spy operation, the American newspaper reported.<br /><br />The FBI swooped down on the ring, after investigators became concerned it had infiltrated a well-connected consulting firm operating in New York and Washington.<br /><br />The Wall Street Journal said Tim Foley, the son of spies who went by the names Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley, was one of the children most extensively groomed for a future intelligence career.<br /><br />Foley, who was 20 when his parents were arrested, had just finished his sophomore year at George Washington University in Washington D.C.<br /><br />Mobilising kids to do Russia's bidding was a clever strategy since people raised in America would likely raise fewer suspicions and would more easily pass security checks when they began operating as spies as adults, analysts said.<br /><br />Heathfield and Foley had lived with their son in the US for more than a decade. The boy ultimately agreed to his parents' request to join the family business, and to travel to Russia for espionage training, sources told the Wall Street Journal.<br /><br />A lawyer who defended Donald Heathfield against espionage charges dismissed the recruitment claims as "crap".<br /><br />But Russian security analysts said the reports were credible, although the goals may be misrepresented.<br /><br />"I don't think they wanted their children in the family business per se," said Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief and analyst at security think tank Agentura.ru.<br /><br />"What they wanted is to make use of state resources to further the careers of their children in the US or elsewhere," he said.<br /><br />Soldatov said it is a time-honoured practice for well-connected Russians to enlist with the intelligence services to give their children access to free English language studies abroad.<br />"Call it perpetuating corruption if you like, but it has nothing to do with spying," he said.</p>