December 11, 2024

An Agent for All, an Agent for None?


An Agent for All, an Agent for None?
Nomma Zarubina at a "Rethinking Russian's future" conference.  Facebook, Nomma Zarubina

Nomma Zarubina, a Russian citizen living in New York, has been arrested for giving false testimony to FBI agents while also giving intel to the FSB.

Zarubina, 34, who had been residing in the US since 2016, claims to have been contacted by the FSB in 2020, whereupon she began working with an agent located in her home city of Tomsk. Zarubina had begun giving "voluntary interviews" to FBI agents in 2018, after appearing as a witness in the trial of Elena Branson, a Russian-American dual citizen convicted in 2022 of acting as a Russian agent in the United States. 

The current FBI investigation charges Zarubina with withholding the information from US authorities that she was also cooperating with FSB agents. The indictment states that Zarubina's responsibilities as an agent included establishing contacts among journalists and employees of think tanks in the United States and other countries, as well as finding people willing to publish positive materials about Russia. Zarubina says that she did indeed receive such requests from FSB officers, but she never carried them out and "never encouraged foreigners to go to Russia."

Zarubina was arrested on November 21 and is currently on bail in New York. 

You Might Also Like

U.S. Journalist Sentenced
  • July 22, 2024

U.S. Journalist Sentenced

American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony. 
Spies Like Us
  • April 17, 2013

Spies Like Us

The Americans, on FX, is a brilliant episodic drama that recreates the 1980s with only minimal anachronisms but plenty of tension, plot twists, double-dealing and moral relativism.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955