It has been reported that a friend says Igor Sutyagin, a Russian scientist who was one of four accused spies exchanged with the United States, is now in Britain.

He had a phone conversation with Sutyagin, the friend told RIA Novosti.

Sutyagin reportedly said, "I am now in a small provincial British town. I have a Russian passport but no British entry visa. They promised that on Monday I will meet with officials who will decide on granting me the visa and on my further stay in Britain."

It has also been reported that the exchange on Friday occurred at a Vienna airport with the 10 spies flown from the United States on an aircraft chartered by the CIA boarding a Russian plane which had carried four men from Moscow. None of the14 officially entered Austria.

Before returning to the United States, the CIA plane landed briefly at Brize Norton, a British air base in Oxfordshire.

It has further been reported that Sutyagin was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2004 for giving information to U. S. intelligence. Another of the four, Sergei Skripal, was convicted in 2006 for passing information to the British intelligence agency MI6. (With Inputs from Agencies)