It was a sensational tale straight out of a Cold War spy novel, a network of 10 Russian

sleeper agents, illegals and spy parliaments, or dispatched to the United States to meld

into American communities and collect intelligence.

They forged documents and steal the identities of real Americans.

Their mission, according to a message intercepted by the FBI, was to search and develop ties

in policy-making circles in the U.S.

spy tale has some powerful echoes in Justice Department special counsel Robert Muller's

recent indictment of 13 Russian trolls, some of whom traveled to the U.S. using phony

aliases as part of a scheme to penetrate and influence the American political system

during the run-up to the 2016 election.

But the story of the Russian illegals actually unfolded years earlier.

In the early 2000s, it culminated in the summer of 2010, when the then FBI director, the

very same Robert Muller, was briefed by his agents that the Russian spies had been

tipped off and were about to flee, leading to a vigorous debate within the Obama White

House about what to do.

It's our story on today's episode of Skull Duggery's Very Treasure.

Let's a clip from the popular FX TV series known as the Americans, a show that was actually

inspired by the Russian spiring uncovered during the early years of the Obama presidency.

I'm Michael Isikov, Chief Investigative correspondent for Yahoo News.

And I'm Dan Clydeman, Editor-in-Chief of Yahoo News.

And Mike, there are kind of extraordinary echoes and parallels to Muller and also to this

great drama of the Americans.

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