THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Something about American policy is bugging the Russians so they took the time honored method of expressing their displeasure, they arrested a spy.

Russia’s Federal Security Service announced Tuesday that it had detained a Central Intelligence Agency officer during an attempt to recruit a Russian agent, saying the American had brought a large sum of cash, technical devices and “appearance disguising means.”

The F.S.B., the successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B., identified the officer as Ryan Christopher Fogle and said he had been “working under the guise of” third secretary in the political department of the United States Embassy in Moscow. It said that Mr. Fogle was detained on Monday night and that he was carrying written instructions for a Russian recruit.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has summoned United States Ambassador Michael A. McFaul to appear on Wednesday to respond to the accusation.

Photographs that appeared on Russian news sites on Tuesday afternoon showed a man in a blond wig, a blue checked shirt and a baseball cap being pinned to the ground, evidently by a Russian officer, and later sitting at a desk in an F.S.B. office, grim-faced. Further images showed a number of items evidently confiscated from him: brown and blond wigs, several pairs of dark glasses, several stacks of 500-euro notes, a compass, a map of Moscow and an embassy ID card identifying him as Ryan C. Fogle.

Russian news sources also featured the text of a letter, allegedly addressed to a recruit, that instructs the recipient to create a Gmail account that will be used for covert contacts. The letter, signed “your friends,” offers $100,000 “to discuss your experience, expertise and cooperation,” with much greater rewards for answering “specific questions.” It goes on to say that “we can offer up to $1 million a year for long-term cooperation, with extra bonuses if we receive some helpful information.” Communications were to be addressed to an enigmatic e-mail address, unbacggdA@gmail.com.

While it is not clear why the arrest was made, we look forward to the traditional response and wonder what they want in return.