Four Russian security officials were slapped Wednesday with formal charges of treason for passing secrets to the US government, according to published reports.
Three of the defendants were identified as Federal Security Services (FSB) officials Sergei Mikhailov and Dmitry Dokuchayev, and Ruslan Stoyanov, a higher-up at the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs, CBS News reported.
A lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, told the Associated Press that he represents the unnamed fourth individual, who was employed at the FSB.
“Everyone involved in the case is charged with treason, and in fact, this is the only article, no other charges,” Pavlov is quoted as saying to Tass, a Russian News agency controlled by the Kremlin, accoirnd to CBS.
The FSB’s Department of Investigation is currently probing the case, and has accused “the defendants of transferring Russian state secrets to U.S. intelligence services,” Tass reported.
“Yes, we are in fact talking about America, but not about the CIA,” Pavlov told Tass.
Last week, the four suspects were placed under arrest by Russian authorities in connection with the case.
Since then, rumors have run rampant that all four were involved in the hacking of the Democratic National committee during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
There was also speculation they were embroiled in a power struggle within their country’s security services community.
The Kremlin has not yet commented on the charges.
With Post Wire Services