US spy swap with Russia biggest since Cold War

A JUDGE in New York has ordered 10 defendants who admitted acting as Russian spies deported from the United States in a swap that results in four spies being released by Russia.

Federal Judge Kimba Wood announced the resolution of the case as she went immediately from guilty pleas to a conspiracy charge by the defendants to a brief sentencing in Manhattan.

It was expected that the defendants would be sent out of the country within hours of the historic spy swap, the largest between the US and Russia since the Cold War.