Former Army Green Beret pleads guilty to espionage charge

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former Army Green Beret has pleaded guilty to divulging military secrets to Russia. Forty-five-year-old Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins of Gainesville, Virginia, pleaded guilty to a charge under the federal Espionage Act on Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria. Court records say he gave Russian intelligence agents secrets about his unit’s activities in former Soviet republics. The indictment says Debbins had a 15-year relationship with Russian intelligence. Debbins told Russian intelligence he considered himself a “son of Russia,” He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in February.