RUSSIAN CALLS IMPRISONED AMERICAN A SPY

MOSCOW -- An American student serving a one-year sentence in Russia on a
drug conviction faced fresh difficulties today, after a Russian scientist
accused the American of trying to recruit him as a spy for the United States.

The scientist, Dmitri Kouznetsov, a toxicologist who was imprisoned in the
United States three years ago on bad check charges, accused John Edward
Tobin, 24, a Fulbright scholar convicted in April for possession of
marijuana, of being an F.B.I. agent. Mr. Kouznetsov said that while he was
jailed in the United States in 1998, Mr. Tobin visited him, identified
himself as an F.B.I. agent and offered leniency if Mr. Kouznetsov would
collaborate.

Authorities in Moscow said today that they were reviewing the accusations
but had not decided whether to charge Mr. Tobin with espionage.

When Mr. Tobin was arrested, investigators suggested that he was a spy,
after learning he had studied at an Arizona military intelligence
institute. But ultimately he was not charged with espionage.

Mr. Tobin's lawyer told the Echo Moscow radio station that the new
accusations were spurious and leveled only to cloud Mr. Tobin's case ahead
of an expected release. Russian officials have indicated that the American
may be pardoned.

Mr. Kouznetsov could not be reached for comment.