Intel Dossier | A Russian Illegal Spy Goes to Jail
Jun 16, 2026 · 12 min · 8 segments
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Jun 16, 2026 · 12 min · 8 segments
**Ways to support the podcast:** Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ https://bmc.link/philipthompson Donate via PayPal: 💸…
No entities detected.
Phil ThompsonHost
On the 11th of June, 2026, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Noma Zarubina, a 35-year-old Russian national, to 14 months in prison.
She had pleaded guilty in February to two counts, the first, lying to the FBI about her ties to Russian intelligence, and the second, naturalization fraud.
The case began with Elina Branson and an organization called the Russian Center New York, which US prosecutors described as a Kremlin propaganda arm coordinating with Russian government officials and funded by them.
In October 2020, the FBI raided Branson's Manhattan apartment, seizing phones, computers, and financial records.
She was indicted in 2022 on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent and remains a fugitive.
When the FBI first approached her in October 2020, she denied any intelligence connections, and over the following four years, was interviewed by the Bureau at least five times.
What prosecutors eventually established was that in November 2020, while in Russia, she met with an FSB officer from her hometown of Tomsk and signed an agreement to assist the FSB with what her handlers called network marketing, meaning the cultivation of influence networks inside Western civil society.
Now, her role wasn't to steal documents or to recruit agents in the conventional sense.
She attended think tank events, book talks, and advocacy panels in Washington and New York.
In short, she was to identify the individuals who might be exploitable by the FSB.
In autumn 2022, she secured a fellowship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a prominent Washington think tank.
The FSB also directed her to attend the 2021 Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, where her mission was to identify Western journalists willing to produce favorable coverage of Russia.
Zarubina began sending dozens of late-night texts to the FBI agent due to testify against her, including one at 4:00 AM on the 13th of September that read, "I need you.
On the 11th of June, 2026, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Noma Zarubina, a 35-year-old Russian national, to 14 months in prison.
She had pleaded guilty in February to two counts, the first, lying to the FBI about her ties to Russian intelligence, and the second, naturalization fraud.
The case began with Elina Branson and an organization called the Russian Center New York, which US prosecutors described as a Kremlin propaganda arm coordinating with Russian government officials and funded by them.
In October 2020, the FBI raided Branson's Manhattan apartment, seizing phones, computers, and financial records.
She was indicted in 2022 on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent and remains a fugitive.
When the FBI first approached her in October 2020, she denied any intelligence connections, and over the following four years, was interviewed by the Bureau at least five times.
What prosecutors eventually established was that in November 2020, while in Russia, she met with an FSB officer from her hometown of Tomsk and signed an agreement to assist the FSB with what her handlers called network marketing, meaning the cultivation of influence networks inside Western civil society.
Now, her role wasn't to steal documents or to recruit agents in the conventional sense.
She attended think tank events, book talks, and advocacy panels in Washington and New York.
In short, she was to identify the individuals who might be exploitable by the FSB.
In autumn 2022, she secured a fellowship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a prominent Washington think tank.
The FSB also directed her to attend the 2021 Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, where her mission was to identify Western journalists willing to produce favorable coverage of Russia.
Zarubina began sending dozens of late-night texts to the FBI agent due to testify against her, including one at 4:00 AM on the 13th of September that read, "I need you.
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