Former consular clerk
FSB: Russian arrested for spying for US
08/28/2023 09:56 am
In Russia, security forces arrested a former US consulate employee. The man is said to have collected information about the Ukraine war and passed it on to the United States. If convicted, he faces up to eight years in prison.
The Russian secret service FSB has arrested a former employee of the US consulate in Vladivostok on allegations of espionage. The FSB said that the Russian citizen had been commissioned by the US embassy to collect information about the course of the “special military operation”. Russian officials describe the country’s war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine as a special military operation.
In addition, the man is accused of having passed on information about the mobilization processes in the regions and the potential for protests before the presidential elections in Russia to the political department of the embassy for a fee. In this context, the FSB says it also wants to interrogate two US diplomats. If convicted of colluding with foreign powers to harm national security, the suspect faces up to eight years in prison.
The incident threatens to further strain the already tense relationship between Russia and the United States. Moscow has used such arrests in the past to exchange its own agents abroad. Earlier this year, the Russian secret service arrested US correspondent Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal on allegations of espionage. The accused and the newspaper deny the allegations, Gershkovich has been in custody since the end of March.