Jun.29, 2010, 10:39am UK

Ten people have been arrested in America accused of spying for Russia for up to a decade.

The FBI said the suspects were thought to have served for years as secret agents on deep-cover assignments for Russia's intelligence service.

Five appeared in a New York court on Monday, where it was alleged their mission was to make ties within policy-making circles and find out about arms control and nuclear weapons.

US authorities charged 11 people with the plot but one is still at large following arrests on Sunday in Boston, New York, New Jersey and Virginia.

The accusations against the suspects include conspiracy to act as unlawful agents of the Russian Federation and money laundering.

The group allegedly assumed false identities in the US under orders of the Russian intelligence agency SVR.

Their goal was to "become sufficiently 'Americanised' such that they could… successfully recruit sources who are in, or are able to infiltrate, United States policy-making circles", according to criminal complaints filed in the US.

But they were not assigned to collect classified secret information, a Justice Department official said.

Most are believed to be originally from Russia and trained to secretly infiltrate America.

The SVR said it would not comment on the arrests, while the office of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev told Sky News it was not protocol for them to comment.

A spokesperson added they regard it as an American internal issue - as it does not involve Russian citizens.

Political analyst at the New Eurasia Foundation in Moscow, Andrei Kortunov, said: "If they are undercover spies their Russian passports will be in a safe here in Russia.

"The nationality in this case is hard to prove. The accusations at this point are only criminal violations - fake passports, money laundering.

"If Russia will not admit they are related in some way, it's almost impossible to prove anything."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was waiting for an explanation from the US on the arrests.

Some of the alleged spies have been under cover since the early 2000s, with many living as couples with ordinary lives in the suburbs.

They even had children, brought up as Americans who were seemingly unaware of their Russian roots.

The so-called sleeper agents communicated by various methods - including secret data embedded in images on public websites, short range wireless between laptop computers and coded radiograms set at special frequencies.

The arrests come just days after US President Barack Obama met with Mr Medvedev.

The leaders have made efforts to repair a relationship between the two nations that has been fractured over diverging foreign policies and business matters.

Mr Obama even described his visiting Russian counterpart as a "solid and reliable partner".

The arrests are the culmination of a multi-year investigation that used extensive surveillance of communications and wiretaps, including putting listening devices into the homes of the accused.

Those charged include: Richard Murphy, Cynthia Murphy, Donald Heathfield, Tracey Lee Ann Foley, Michael Zottoli, Patricia Mills, Juan Lazaro, Vicky Pelaez, Anna Chapman, Mikhail Semenko and Christopher Metsos - who remains at large.

Pelaez was said to be Peruvian-born and had worked for several years as a reporter and editor for El Diario/La Prensa, one of the country's best-known Spanish-language newspapers.