igor sutyagin. what, matthew, do you know, is he accused of? reporter: yeah, well, he s a nuclear analyst, nuclear weapons expert, in fact. he worked at a think tank associate with the moscow academy of sciences, which is an academic institution. particularly associated withel u.s. and canada institute there. accused of essentially selling nuclear secrets from russia to employees of a british security firm, which is i believe to have been the front for a cia operation. he was convicted in 2004, sentenced to 15 years, in prison. he s all the time, though, denied his innocence. although today his mother says that he has been forced, in her words, to sign a confession that he is guilty of this spying, as one of the terms of this alleged prisoner swap deal. and one final question, matthew. do you know of any other time that the u.s. may have tried to intercede on this scientist s