INTERPOL and spies

Factual Questions
1

Shortly after the U.S. arrested several alleged Russian spies, a fleeing member of the ring was arrested in Cyprus on an INTERPOL warrant. (He’s since been given bail, disappeared, and will no doubt surface in Russia soon enough.)

Is this standard for the organization? When the spy does show up in Moscow, will INTERPOL member Russia be expected to apprehend him and return him to the U.S.? It won’t happen, but what do the INTERPOL agreements say should happen?

I had no idea that INTERPOL concerned themselves with political crimes such as espionage.

2

See Art. 3 here: http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/LegalMaterials/constitution/constitutionGenReg/constitution.asp#art3. Of course, “political crimes” are in the eye of the beholder.

3

Well, yes, of course.

Would an American spy fleeing Russia who jumped bail in Germany be returned to Russia from Washington?

(If the U.S. doesn’t have spies in Russia, we’re doing it wrong.)

I’m basically looking for an INTERPOL policy on espionage.

4

I haven’t yet seen any information about what charges, if any, the Interpol alert mentioned. The guy, Christopher Metsos, is described as the ring’s money man. For all we know, the warrant could have been for simple money laundering or securities fraud.