Russia detains Ukrainian national for spying

MOSCOW

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday it detained a Ukrainian citizen for spying.

A man, whose name was withheld, was caught "red-handed while gathering classified information about research and development in small arms” production, the FSB said in a statement.

According to the FSB, "a foreigner on the instructions of the intelligence services of Ukraine was searching for employees of Russian defense enterprises having access to classified information."

"His goals were to recruit Russians and obtain from them legally protected information about promising developments in the field of small arms," it said.

A criminal case was opened against the Ukrainian on espionage charges, entailing imprisonment for a term from 10 to 20 years.

As of filing this report, Ukraine was yet to make an official statement about the arrest of its national.