Tuesday, May 10, 2016

What Happens When You Find Out From The FBI That Your Parents Are Russian Spies

'Donald Heathfield' with Alex and Tim in 1999. Photograph: courtesy Tim and Alex Foley

Shaun Walker, The Guardian: The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies

For years Donald Heathfield, Tracey Foley and their two children lived the American dream. Then an FBI raid revealed the truth: they were agents of Putin’s Russia. Their sons tell their story

Tim Foley turned 20 on 27 June 2010. To celebrate, his parents took him and his younger brother Alex out for lunch at an Indian restaurant not far from their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both brothers were born in Canada, but for the past decade the family had lived in the US. The boys’ father, Donald Heathfield, had studied in Paris and at Harvard, and now had a senior role at a consultancy firm based in Boston. Their mother, Tracey Foley, had spent many years focused on raising her children, before taking a job as a real estate agent. To those who knew them, they seemed a very ordinary American family, albeit with Canadian roots and a penchant for foreign travel. Both brothers were fascinated by Asia, a favoured holiday destination, and the parents encouraged their sons to be inquisitive about the world: Alex was only 16, but had just returned from a six-month student exchange in Singapore.

After a buffet lunch, the four returned home and opened a bottle of champagne to toast Tim reaching his third decade. The brothers were tired; they had thrown a small house party the night before to mark Alex’s return from Singapore, and Tim planned to go out later. After the champagne, he went upstairs to message his friends about the evening’s plans. There came a knock at the door, and Tim’s mother called up that his friends must have come early, as a surprise.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I feel sorry for the two boys. They were born in Canada .... and see themselves as Canadians .... not Russian. To adjust to a new life in Russia .... after becoming use to a life in Canada and the U.S. .... it must have been quite a shock .... and one that I am sure is very difficult for them to adjust to even today.

2 comments:

James said...

That's it, now I remember. They were traded for Sutyagin and three others. That's period of time I wasn't paying much attention.

Dee Tee said...

Nice! Blog. Thumbs up!