Russian spycatchers are scrambling to figure out how long an accused double-agent was working for the CIA after a 'dramatic' discovery about his shady past.

Sergei Mikhailov faces treason changes in Moscow evidently linked to leaks giving US investigators the knowledge that Vladimir Putin's intelligence services hacked and meddled in the American presidential election.

The colonel - a department head in the FSB security agency's Center for Information Security, pictured here - was arrested in December during a meeting of senior officers at the agency's Lubyanka HQ,and could face 20 years in jail.

A bag was placed over his head and he was frogmarched from the room in handcuffs.

Mikhailov - apparently a high level cyber asset - was originally recruited by the Americans during a vacation in a Mediterranean country, according to TV channel REN, citing security service sources.

Treason charge: Sergei Mikhailov, a FSB colonel (left) is awaiting a treason trial along with Dmitri Dokuchahaev (right), his subordinate and a former hacking who worked for the FSB to avoid a prison term for his cyber crimes

Dramatic end: FSB colonel Sergei Mikhailov was arrested at a meeting of high-level FSB officers at the Lubyanka headquarters of the FSB, handcuffed and marched from the room with a bag over his head

It is ultimately controlled by the Kremlin leader's alleged girlfriend Alina Kabaeva, the former Olympic gold winning rhythmic gymnast.

No further details were given of this version of a case that is seen to have been highly damaging to Russia and the FSB, known in Soviet times as the KGB.

Other sources say a probe into Mikhailov started after sensational evidence came to light that he has long used a fake identity, even raising the specter that he could have been planted on Moscow.

'It was suspected that perhaps Mikhailov is not really called Mikhailov,' stated investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

'Two sources pointed to him being 'a foreign intelligence mole inside the FSB', it was reported.

As such, he represented a 'spectacular asset' for the US, according to a Russian intelligence analyst.

His resume showed that was born in ex-Soviet republic Belarus, and came to Russia in the mid-1990s, taking citizenship before rising through the ranks of the FSB, a counter-intelligence agency once headed by Putin.

But an investigation carried out by respected veterans of the SVR foreign intelligence service, the FSB, and the Interior Ministry 'failed to find any evidence that Mikhailov was born and raised in Belarus', according to the newspaper.

The startling conclusion of a 'man with no past' at the heart of the FSB's cyber operation was handed in a memorandum to the agency's leadership, along with suspicions that from 2010 he had been handing data to the Americans.

The dossier on Mikhailov was commissioned by an IT company with whom he had come into conflict.

'Having realized that they had gone too far, the ex-officers...made a report about their "findings" and sent it to the FSB,' stated the newspaper.

'This dramatic scenario if confirmed poses significant questions on where he came from, who he is, a plant? - how long he has been feeding the Americans,' said the analyst.

The Russians have given few details about the investigation into Mikhailov which will ultimately lead to a closed-door trial in a military court.

However, he is seen as having been a potential security risk for seven years, and perhaps longer.

Separately it has been reported by Life.ru - which has close links to the FSB - that a sum totaling $12 million was seized from his Moscow apartment and dacha (country house).

Mikhailov, whose age is not known, and his subordinate Dmitri Dokuchahaev, or Dokuchayev, 33, a former hacker once known as 'Forb' who was recruited to the FSB under the threat of prosecution for his previous activities, were both charged with treason.

Also charged: Ruslan Stoyanov, a manager from anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab, was also charged with treason by the Russians. It is claimed the FSB two passed secret data to Stoyanov and a representative of another cybersecurity company.

Target: The alleged Russian traitors are said to have handed the CIA information on tattooed Vladimir Fomenko, the 26-year-old owner of King Servers. Hackers allegedly used these servers to breach election databases in Illinois and Arizona last summer and compromise up to 200,000 voter records

Both men had been under surveillance for around one year, it has been reported in Moscow, but the FSB leadership failed to act on earlier claims in 2010 that Mikhailov was 'involved in treason'.

These allegations from ChronoPay, an online payments company, are now believed to be part of the case against Mikhailov linked to the allegations about his mysterious background.

Officially, Russia has not outlined the case against the alleged 'traitors' but a source said: 'The head of the department of the Center for Information Security of the Federal Security Service Sergey Mikhailov and his deputy Major Dmitry Dokuchaev are accused of having violated their oath by cooperating with the CIA.'

Dokuchaev was last month indicted by the US Justice Department, as was another FSB officer Igor Sushchin, who worked undercover officer at Renaissance Capital, a Moscow investment bank owned by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.

They are accused of masterminding a notorious 2014 Yahoo hacking operation, which involved the theft of data on half a billion online accounts, including those used by the US military and banks.

Others indicted were alleged co-conspirators Alexsey Belan and Karim Baratov. The latter, allegedly a 22-year-old playboy hacker, was detained in Canada on a US extradition request.

In January then-President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russians identified as intelligence operatives in retaliation for what the White House called 'very disturbing Russian threats to U.S. national security' in connection with hacking during the U.S. election campaign.

A media attack on Mikhailov by Tsargrad TV, controlled by a Putin friend, reported that Mikhailov passed to US agents the information that allowed Washington to issue the intelligence report blaming Moscow for election-related hacking.

A subsequent 25-page declassified report saw the US intelligence community blame Russia for hacking targeted at helping Trump win the vote.

Ruslan Stoyanov, a manager from the cybersecurity and anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab, was also charged with treason by the Russians.

Suspicion: There are claims that the two alleged CIA spies in the FSB and their contact outside it are linked to Vladimir Anikeev, known as 'Lewis', who hacked the Russian state and revealed secrets on propaganda initiatives as part of the 'Humpty Dumpty' hacking ring. He is said to have made a plea bargain

Target: Dmitry Medvedev (left), Putin's prime minister and predecessor as president, was the focus of the Humpty Dumpty hacks which are claimed to be linked to the three alleged CIA spies, two of whom worked at the heart of Vladimir Putin's cyberwarfare operation

All helped the Americans pinpoint Russian hacking in the presidential election won by Donald Trump, it is believed.

It has been claimed that Mikhailov and Dokuchaev received payments for passing secret data to Stoyanov and a representative of another cybersecurity company.

Mikhailov is suspected of giving the US information on Vladimir Fomenko, the 26-year-old owner of King Servers, an internet company in the Altai region of Siberia.

Hackers allegedly used these servers to breach election system databases in Illinois and Arizona last summer, according to Threat-Connect, a US cybersecurity company.

The Illinois hack saw up to 200,000 personal voting records compromised, Yahoo reported. In Arizona 'malware' was placed on a system but there was no theft of data.

Data from Mikhailov and his associates was transferred to 'acquaintances abroad who worked closely with foreign special services', believed to be American, a source told Rosbalt news agency.

'This is not a one-off story, this activity was carried out for a minimum of seven years and caused substantial harm to the interests of the Russian Federation,' said the source.

There are also claims - not confirmed - that the FSB detainees are linked to a trio arrested from the Shaltai-Boltai - Humpty Dumpty - hacking group.

This outfit has caused embarrassment in the Kremlin, for example by hacking prime minister and ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, and releasing documents on propaganda initiatives.

The leader of the group Vladimir Anikeyev, aka 'Lewis', has done a pre-trial deal with Russian prosecutors under which he admits his guilt in exchange for a lighter sentence.

One version suggests he has given compromising evidence against Mikhailov.

'My client has made a pre-trial agreement with the investigation, but we are not commenting on its terms,'said Anikeyev's lawyer Ruslan Koblev.

If the courts accept the deal, Anikeyev cannot be given a sentence exceeding two-thirds of the maximum five-year term for which he is accused.

His associates nicknamed March Hare and The Hatter -- Konstantin Teplyakov and Alexander Filinov -- were also held in November for gaining 'illegal access to computer information'.