US spy chief Panetta led spy swap negotiations

CIA director Leon Panetta and Russia's spy chief, Mikhail Fradkov, worked out the largest spy swap since the Cold War in just a few days, a US official says.

Panetta already had developed "a sound relationship" with Fradkov, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, which allowed the two former adversaries to clinch the deal quickly. They agreed to trade 10 Russian sleeper agent arrested in the United States for four prisoners Russia had jailed as spies for the United States. (AP)