Mikhail Semenko, one of the Russian spies arrested in the U.S. and dispatched home in a spy swap last week, was a travel agent, active in social media and a China blogger.
Slava Shirokov, co-owner of Travel All Russia in Arlington, Va., says Semenko, who spoke six languages, was a travel specialist focusing on Spanish- and Chinese-speaking clients for the ASTA-member agency's tours to Russia and cruises to neighboring countries.
Semenko's approximately one-year old travel industry career came to an abrupt halt when he was arrested on spy-related charges and sent home to Russia with nine other sleuths July 9.
On June 26, Semenko allegedly met with an undercover FBI agent posing as a Russian government handler, explained how he exchanged information with a Russian government employee over a laptop-to-laptop private network, provided details about his spy training in Russia, and upon the FBI agent's instructions, placed $5,000 at a drop site in an Arlington, Va., park, according to the complaint [pdf].
Semenko's LinkedIn profile indicates he previously worked at the Conference Board, was a graduate assistant at Seton Hall University, interned at the World Affairs Council and "is particularly interested in non-profits, think tanks, public policy, advocacy and educational institutions."
Semenko, believed to be 27 or 28, has 122 LinkedIn connections. He lived in New Jersey, but relocated to Arlington, Va., when Travel All Russia moved from New York to Arlington in 2009.
Shirokov says he's known Semenko since their university days in Russia.
Semenko, who has a Facebook profile with 354 friends, also has a WordPress blog, Chinese Economy Today.
Semenko's Twitter profile isn't very active, although we learn from his first tweet March 21 that he had a "great salsa merengue night!"
Travel All Russia has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the spy caper, which garnered international attention, and co-owner Shirokov says the reaction of clients and the travel agency community has been great.
"Thank God there was positive publicity and people were very respectful about us as an agency," Shirokov says. "It's all been really strange, though, like in a movie."
A couple of Semenko's former clients contacted the travel agency and said, "I guess I have a new travel agent specialist now," Shirokov says.
A few even suggested that the agency begin doing spy tours of Russia, Shirokov says.
He adds, with a laugh: "Maybe one day, but not now."