The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia mentioned on Thursday that it had arrested a serviceman in Siberia for having allegedly given state secrets to Ukraine.
The serviceman who is from the Strategic Missile Forces of Russia was arrested in Siberian city of Barnaul around 2,900 kilometers east of Moscow, as he was walking out of a grocery store, FSB footage carried by the Russian news agencies showed.
Russia Detains Serviceman
In a statement carried by Russian agencies, the FSB said the serviceman had allegedly passed state secrets to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's defense ministry. It did not provide further detail on the nature of the information that had allegedly been passed.
It said a criminal case had been opened for state treason. If convicted, the serviceman could face up to 20 years in jail. Relations between Russia and Ukraine have soured since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and pro-Kremlin separatists seized a swath of eastern Ukraine. Russia has spent heavily to integrate Crimea into its territory, and it has been the focus of espionage and military tensions since its annexation.
(With agency inputs)
