Issue #24/79, December 12 - 26, 1999  

By CHARLTON HESTON

MOSCOW (AP)--In a new twist to the growing spy scandal that threatens to further strain already thorny relations, Russian and American sources confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. diplomat accused of spying had been working for months to infiltrate Moscow's highest social and financial circles.

Russian security officials said Cheri Leberknight, a political attache at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, was first brought to the attention of security officials after Leberknight was reported for suspicious activity at top Moscow

Accused spy Cheri Leberknight shown here propositioning a stylish customer at Galereya

nightclubs. According to these officials, Leberknight, pictured here, frequented renowned exclusive clubs like Galereya dressed in a tight mini-skirt and expensive Italian platform shoes. She had bribed one of the security guards at Galereya to allow her past their notoriously rigid face control.

Galereya has a reputation for attracting six-foot-tall Russian models, the cream of Russia's famously beautiful young women, and the men that are attracted to them. The source said that without the bribe, "Leberknight [would] never have made it past the face-control. In fact, she'd have been beaten to a pulp."

Alexander Zdanovich of the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, said, "Leberknight frequented Galereya, where she earned a reputation for inviting important members of the financial-industrial elite and top government officials to spend intimate time with her in the club restroom.

"We have information that she performed fellatio on several occasions in the bathroom, as well as other acts that we would only describe as indecent."

Zdanovich alleged that several people who had contact with Leberknight confessed that usually she would entice them into the restroom, perform fellatio or a "Russian-style" non-copulatory sexual act, and then afterwards, grill them for vital information.

While officially, U.S. State Department officials deny the allegation and claim that Leberknight frequented Galereya "on her own free time," privately, one official admitted that it was part of a bungled CIA plot to infiltrate the Russian elite.

"The CIA thought that they could send someone under cover to gain access, someone who looked like a Russian dyevushka [girl]. After scouring the U.S. Foreign Service, Leberknight was the best they could come up with.

"Those of us at the Moscow embassy who were privy both to the typical Galereya client and Ms. Leberknight knew that she would have difficulty."

While most people interviewed agreed that Leberknight is the closest equivalent to a six-foot-tall Russian model that the American government could possibly provide, and thus best positioned to be able to infiltrate the upper echelons of Russian power, they nevertheless described her as "a far cry" from a typical Russian model.

"She stood out like a sore thumb--no, more like a canker sore--every night," complained one Western businessman who frequents Galereya and who remembers Leberknight. "You had to be pretty bad off to take up her offer to go to the bathroom. But since that's not uncommon, she had at least three or four Russian heavies every night."

"Look, I know she's not Red Stars material but she's the best America has to offer," said an embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Every nation has its strengths and weaknesses."

The security guard at Galereya accused of having been on Leberknight's payroll has since been suspended from his duties pending further investigation.