Disappointed Justice officials feared Russian spy suspect would flee Cyprus if given chance

US upset Cyprus let Russian spy suspect get away

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department expressed disappointment Thursday that Cyprus allowed a suspected Russian spy to go free on bail — and promptly disappear.

“As we had feared, having been given unnecessarily the chance to flee,” Christopher Metsos “did so,” said Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the department’s national security division.

Boyd said “we’re disappointed that Christopher Metsos was released on bail” after his arrest.

U.S. prosecutors charge that Metsos served as paymaster for the 10 alleged Russian deep-cover spies arrested Sunday near New York, Boston and Washington.

In Cyprus, authorities searched airports, ports and yacht marinas and examined surveillance video from crossing points on the war-divided island.

They feared that the suspect may have slipped into the breakaway north of the island, a diplomatic no-mans-land recognized only by Turkey.

Metsos was arrested Tuesday in Cyprus on an Interpol warrant while waiting to board a flight for Budapest, Hungary.

A Cypriot judge freed him on $33,000 bail. Metsos failed to appear Wednesday for a required meeting with police, causing the manhunt.

“The investigation is in the hands of the Cypriot government,” a spokesman for the American embassy said when asked if the United States had contacted authorities in northern Cyprus about the fugitive.