Russian Spies Like ETFs

Exchange traded funds have quickly become an ingrained facet of the financial world, so much so that Russian spy masters who were looking into ETFs were recently charged by the FBI for espionage.

Federal officers have arrested Evgeny Buryakov, or “Zhenya,” and charged Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobny, who have both left the U.S., of spying for Russia’s intelligence service, the SVR, reports Nick Bauman for Mother Jones.

The following excerpt was taken from a statement from the Justice Department:

“Based on my training, experience, and participation in this investigation, I believe that, in this conversation, IGOR SPRYSHEV, the defendant, asked for, and obtained from, EVGENY Buryakov, a/k/a “Zhenya,” the defendent, questions of interest to the Russian economic intelligence community that were to be sued by others associated with the News Organization,” according to the official’s report.

Many might have assumed Russians just wanted to destabilize the markets. On the other hand, Russia may be interested in trading their own Russia ETFs, such the Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEArca: RSX) and Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x Shares (NYSE: RUSL), which have both experienced greater interested following the plunge over the past year.

“It might be the other way around, where they are concerned with us attacking them,” Eric Hunsader, who runs Nanex, said in the Mother Jones article, pointing to unusual movements in trades of RSX and RUSL. “It was something that was definitely manipulated. You don’t generally see that kind of movement go on…Maybe they’re concerned about us screwing with them.”

Notably, they might have been interested in the “trading robots,” or algorithm-based trades that could be triggered without a moments notice.

The Russians would at least find some good deals as the MSCI Russia Index’s price-to-earnings ratio is hovering around 4, compared to the S&P 500’s stock index of 18.1, Bloomberg reports.

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