In Nizhny Tagil, a married couple suspected of spying was arrested, informed TASS with reference to the FSB department for the Sverdlovsk region. in the secret service clarified that the husband and wife confessed to having transferred certain drawings to Ukraine for a monetary reward.
Criminal charges have been filed against the two detainees under the treason of the state article, the spouses are under arrest. Judging by the video published by the press service of the regional FSB, the detention was carried out at the suspects’ homes.
According to the intelligence service, the couple engaged in espionage “in connection with one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex” and obtained “information of a military-technical nature” which “can be used against the Russian armed forces in the context of a special military operation.
The press service of the Federal Security Service of the Sverdlovsk region said that a search was carried out at the home of the suspects, during which “objects of espionage activities” were seized.
A video of the interrogation of the suspects conducted during their arrest has been published. The woman, in front of the camera, confirmed that she confessed to the transfer of drawings, the payment for which amounted to “about one hundred thousand rubles”. The investigation into the case is ongoing, summarized the FSB press service.
Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of Russia informed that from 2010 to mid-2022, 24 people were convicted under an article on espionage in Russia, including three in 2021, all of whom received real sentences. The article on espionage provides for a prison term of 10 to 20 years.
On March 30, Evan Gershkovich, correspondent for the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in Yekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage. He was taken to Moscow, the court sent him to a remand center. The journalist is suspected of having “collected information constituting state secrets on the instructions of the American party”. Security officials suggest that Gershkovich collected information about the work of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. On April 3, a certain Oksana Fedorova was arrested in Moscow on suspicion of espionage. Details of the suspect, including his nationality, have not been made public and details of the case have not been made public.
