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Two foreigners suspected of spying for Russia arrested in Slovenia
KYIV. Jan 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Slovenian special services have arrested two foreign citizens in Ljubljana who were engaged in intelligence activities in favor of Russia, the Slovenian ezine Delo has reported.
According to it, the arrested are charged with espionage and providing false data. The publication notes that one of the arrested has Argentine citizenship.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ljubljana opened pretrial proceedings against them on the basis of a submission from the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Service (Slovenske obveščevalno-varnostne agencije (SOVA).
"The criminal case was initiated legally by a court decision. The court decided to detain both defendants, who were deprived of their liberty on December 5, 2022," the prosecutor’s office explained.
According to the indictment, if the suspects appear in court in Slovenia, they face up to eight years in prison. The prosecution is prosecuting both persons under the third part of Article 358 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Slovenia (up to five years for espionage in favor of foreign intelligence). In addition to espionage, Slovenian prosecutors also accuse two detainees of checking false detention (Article 253 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Slovenia), as a result of which they face an additional sentence of up to three years in prison.
According to Slovenian media, both detainees had citizenship and passports of third countries, so they did not present themselves as Russian citizens. At least one of them had Argentine citizenship.
The company that served as a cover for their activities in Slovenia is officially engaged in the real estate and antiques trade. The company had offices in an administrative building in the capital of Slovenia – Ljubljana.
According to unofficial information, the detected spy cell in Ljubljana conducted intelligence activities not only in Slovenia, but also abroad.
Slovenian media report that the operation to detain Russian spies was carried out in cooperation with foreign intelligence services.
