A political consultant, Nomma Zarubina, 34, has been arrested in New York by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of working with Russian spies following a return from a conference in Ottawa, Canada.
The conference, which was hosted by groups critical of Putin and the Kremlin, was called Rethinking Russia’s Future. It took place in Ottawa’s Wellington Building, which is parts of the parliamentary precinct and contains government offices. Zarubina was attending the conference as a consultant and researcher.
Zarubina, a Russian national, was charged with two counts of false statements, per the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York via The Globe and Mail. She was released on a $25,000 bail.
Part of the bail conditions include Zarubina being unable to leave New York, and prohibiting contact with any foreign government officials, except for those at the Russian consulate.
Zarubina denied the charges. However, the FBI has stated that she was in contact with an agent of Russia’s Federal Security Service, which is the successor to the KGB.
“I didn’t help them,” Zarubina said. “I never worked for them.” She further stated that when she was arrested, she had gone to the FBI building voluntarily that day for an appointment with the counterintelligence division. “I didn’t know they wanted to arrest me,” she said.
Zarubina has admitted that she previously lied to the FBI, claiming to have no connections with the FSB, per Newsweek.
However, Zarubina has also said that she has previously cooperated with the FBI for about four years, intending to help America. “That is why I kept from time to time specific kinds of information with the Russians to provide this communication to the Americans,” she said. “I don’t know why they didn’t appreciate this.”
She expressed confusion as to why she would be arrested now when she had been cooperative before.
The arrest took place on November 19th. In July of this year, Zarubina had already disclosed to the FBI that the FSB had asked her to identify potential contacts in the US, including military personnel and journalists, who could be swayed to Russia’s side.
Peter Dubrowski, an FBI agent assigned to the case, said that the FBI believes that Zarubina agreed to help the FSB with what he referred to as “network marketing”. She was asked to attend forums, seminars, and conventions in an effort to make connections and cultivate relationships “with the US and elsewhere.”
Zarubina’s codename in FSB documents was allegedly “Alyssa”. She allegedly stayed in contact with a handler in her home city of Tomsk, Siberia, until 2022.
Free-Nations of Post Russia Forum, which helped organize the conference that Zarubina attended before her arrest, denies any knowledge of her activities. “Nomma Zarubina has U.S. and Canadian visas, which in part gave us confidence that Western governments did their checks and allowed her inside the country,” said Oleg Magaletsky, Free-Nations of Post Russia Forum’s founder.
Magaletsky also noted that Zarubina has spoken at events in the United States before, and stated that if Free-Nations of Post Russia Forum had been made aware of any connection to the FSB, they would not have allowed Zarubina to participate in any of their events.
Zarubina was attending the conference to speak on the subject of Siberian independence. During her speech she advocated for independence, saying that she was born and raised in Sibera and “the Kremlin… is always historically a big threat for us.”
Following her arrest, she expressed that she felt she would be unsafe if she returned to Russia. She has surrendered her Russian passport.
Zarubina has lived in New York for about ten years.
Canadian government officials who attended the Rethinking Russia’s Future event or were present at the Wellington Building have released various statements claiming to either not have encountered her during the forum, or to have not had any further contact with her following the forum.
