MOSCOW, April 9 (Reuters) – Russia’s Federal Security Service said on Thursday that it had detained a former Radio Free Europe freelance journalist on suspicion of treason for passing information to Ukrainian intelligence.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said the man, whose name it did not disclose, was accused of high treason for purportedly cooperating with Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service.
There was no immediate comment from Kyiv or Radio Free Europe, and the FSB did not say whether the detained man had denied or admitted the accusations against him.
In footage released on social media, FSB officers in masks were shown knocking on the man’s door and entering for a search of his apartment. The video showed the FSB lining up 21 old memory sticks and two mobile phones and reading him his rights.
The FSB said the man, a resident of Chita in eastern Siberia who was born in 1960, had supplied information via Telegram to Ukrainian intelligence on a local print publication and about a critical infrastructure object in the region.
“The information received by the special services of Ukraine was used to carry out computer attacks on these facilities, which temporarily hampered the authorities from performing their duties,” the FSB said in a statement.
“The FSB once again draws attention to the fact that all persons who have consented to assist the enemy will be identified, brought to criminal responsibility and will receive the harsh punishment they deserve,” it said.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge/Anastasia Teterevleva; editing by Andrew Osborn and Hugh Lawson)
