YEKATERINBURG, March 24. /TASS/. A Ukrainian citizen has been detained in Russia’s Urals city Yekaterinburg for gathering scientific and technical information on the work of regional machine-building enterprises, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Sverdlovsk region said on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian spy, whose name has not been revealed, was caught red-handed in February as he received the first package of engineering materials on the production of high-tech energy equipment, the FSB officials said.
An FSB source said the man was particularly interested in the work of the Ural Turbomechanical Plant, part of Russia’s Rotek manufacturer. The plant manufactures equipment for energy and gas spheres.
The suspect, who is the representative of the Ukrainian Poltava Turbomechanical Plant, part of the country’s machine-building giant, Ukrrosmetall Concern, was detained after an investigation that was launched by the FSB following a tip off last year.
The information that the FSB received alleged that the Ukrainian man was gathering information on the engineering and technological documentation of the Russian machine-building plants in the region, the press service said.
The transfer of the documents to the foreign side could have caused damage worth hundreds of millions of rubles.
The Ukrainian has confessed to having committed the illegal activity. "A restrictive measure has been imposed against him as the arrest for two months," the FSB said.
During the investigation, it was found that the foreigner established contacts with the employees of the enterprises "with the aim of creating a constant channel of receiving the documents in which the foreign party was interested in" for money reward.
"The foreigner used conspiration methods when establishing and developing contacts with the Russian citizens," the FSB said.
A criminal case has been launched against him into "illegally receiving and disclosing information that contains commercial, tax or banking secrets."