Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, Legislation, Russia, Security

An investigation into alleged treason has been opened.

"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in the cities of Smolensk and Pskov detained a serviceman of the Russian armed forces and his brother, who permanently resides in Estonia, on suspicion of gathering information constituting a state secret and passing it to Estonian special services," the FSB press center told Interfax.

FSB investigators have opened a criminal case on a count of treason.

The charge carries a punishment of 12 to 20 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 rubles (EUR 5,400).

Spokespeople for Estonia's Foreign Intelligence Service told BNS on Tuesday that they will not comment on the topic. 

A spokesman for the Internal Security Service (ISS), Harrys Puusepp, told BNS that in general, the ISS will comment on matters of counter-intelligence, one of its main duties, when a person acting in the interests of a special service of a foreign country has been detained as part of a criminal proceeding or an overview of one's work is offered in the annual review.  

"The present is neither of these situations," he said.