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US Navy officer charged with transmitting classified email to Russian national

The charge sheet refers to an incident occurred in January 2019 at or near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska

© AP Photo/Aaron Favila

WASHINGTON, July 19. /TASS/. Charles Briggs, a Chief Petty Officer of the US Navy, is charged with transmitting an email containing classified information to an unidentified Russian national, according to the charge sheet furnished to TASS by the US Navy.

The charge sheet refers to an incident occurred in January 2019 at or near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, when Briggs was on active duty. Briggs "on or about 9 January 2019, knowingly access a government computer with an unauthorized purpose and obtained classified information, to wit: an email containing secret classified information," the document says.

[He] "intentionally transmitted such information to a Russian national, a person not entitled to receive it," the document says. The name of the Russian national is not disclosed in documents.

On July 16, the Virginian Pilot daily reported that Chief Petty Officer Charles Briggs was suspected of allegedly passing secret information to a Russian national who is not identified. The Virginian Pilot said that it is not specified in the military court documents what kind of information he is suspected of passing on to the Russian or where he met that individual.

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