Rumours grow of deal to swap US and Russian spies

A court hearing for three suspects in the Russia spy case was postponed today amid speculation the US and Russia are arranging a prisoner swap.

Defence lawyer Daniel Lopez said the hearing in Alexandria, Virginia for Michael Zottoli, Patricia Mills and Mikhail Semenko was put off.

In Washington under secretary of state for political affairs William Burns, a former American ambassador to Moscow, was due to meet Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.

Officials declined to comment on the reason for the meeting, the location of which was identified only as "Washington, D.C."

Earlier the brother of a man serving a 14-year prison sentence in Russia said in Moscow that the United States and Russia were working on a spy swap.

Zottoli, Mills and Semenko are among 11 people arrested last month after an investigation into what prosecutors say was a long-term Russian effort to glean sensitive information.