MELITOPOL, January 16. /TASS/. Three residents of the Zaporozhye Region have been detained on suspicion of spying for Ukraine; they were transmitting information on the location of Russian troops, the regional office of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reported.

"The FSB Directorate for the Zaporozhye Region has identified and prevented the illegal activity of two residents of the city of Berdyansk and a resident of the Ostrikovka village of the Tokmaksky district, Zaporozhye Region, suspected of spying for the armed forces of Ukraine. <…> They have been detained," the statement says.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (espionage). It was established that the suspects collected and transmitted to the enemy "information about the deployment locations and movements of personnel and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces" via a foreign messenger for subsequent missile and bomb strikes, the FSB said.

The suspects have been remanded in custody. The search and investigative activities are underway, the FSB added. The maximum penalty for espionage is imprisonment for up to 20 years.