Media reports say Russian authorities have charged two officers in the Federal Security Service (FSB) and an employee of cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab with committing treason in the interests of the United States
According to Reuters, a lawyer representing one of the three in the case, confirmed the charges.
Ivan Pavlov identified the three as Ruslan Stoyanov, head of Kaspersky's computer incidents investigation team, and two officers working for the FSB's Information Security Centre, Sergei Mikhailov and Dmitry Dokuchayev.
“My client, along with the others, has been charged with state treason and cooperating with U.S. intelligence services,” Ivan Pavlov told Reuters.
“Ruslan Stoyanov, head of Kaspersky Lab's computer incidents investigations unit, Sergey Mikhailov, a senior Russian FSB officer, and his deputy Dmitry Dokuchayev are accused of “treason in favor of the US,” lawyer Ivan Pavlov said on Wednesday, as cited by Interfax.
The charges against the defendants do not imply they were cooperating with the CIA, Pavlov added. “There is no mention of the CIA at all. [The entity] in question is the US, not the CIA,” he stressed, according to TASS.
Russian news agency RT reports the lawyer maintained the court files included no mention of Vladimir Anikeyev, an alleged leader of the notorious Russian hacking group known as ‘Shaltai-Boltai’, Russian for Humpty Dumpty, which previously leaked emails from top Russian officials, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti on Wednesday the treason charges do not relate to the US suspicions of Russia being behind the alleged cyber-attacks on the 2016 presidential elections. He added that President Vladimir Putin is receiving regular updates on the current investigation.
Russian newspaper Kommersant first reported the arrests last week, which it said took place in December.
Kommersant reported that Mikhailov was arrested at a meeting of FSB officers and was taken from the meeting after a sack was put on his head.
The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, meanwhile, said that a total of six suspects — including Mikhailov, Dokuchayev, and Stoyanov — had been arrested.
