The suspicion of a “mole” in the security services was investigated for years by a small group, until the brothers were arrested last fall.
In Sweden, the trial of the espionage case that has attracted attention begins today.
What are the brothers accused of?
The brothers are accused of aggravated espionage.
Prosecutors described in your announcement (you will switch to another service)that it is a very serious crime against the Swedish intelligence and security system.
The brothers are suspected of sharing top-secret intelligence from, among others, the Swedish Security Police Säpo and the Swedish Defense Forces to the Russian military intelligence GRU.
What is known about the brothers?
According to the Swedish media, the men have been detained for a year. The brothers are 42 and 35 years old. One of them is known to have worked at Säpo and the Swedish Defense Forces and Swedish military intelligence, among other things.
Dagens Nyheter (you switch to another service) says that the older of the brothers even worked for a while in the KSI department, which is considered the most secret of the Swedish intelligence organization.
The brothers grew up in Uppsala and were born in Iran.
Aftonbladet (you switch to another service) according to the older brother has denied his guilt for the suspected crimes.
What is known about their ways of working?
The brothers’ spying is suspected to have lasted ten years between 2011 and 2021.
SVT’s (you switch to another service) according to the report, the older brother collected information in Säpo and the Swedish Defense Forces, and the younger brother was suspected to be in contact with the Russian military intelligence GRU.
According to the preliminary investigation, information was delivered to contact persons using “dead mailboxes”. These places are suspected to have been, for example, public toilets, where information was left for another person to retrieve.
The notes found mention the GRU, “Rasski” and the number 800,000, apparently referring to the reward promised to the brothers. The younger of the brothers has denied the connection to the GRU and said in the interrogations that it was a typo.
The investigation has revealed indications of a plan in case things go wrong and the brothers are threatened with imprisonment.
How were the brothers revealed?
The Swedish security authorities started investigating the case years ago. The suspicion has been investigated for years by a small group, until the brothers were arrested last fall.
According to SVT, after the arrest of the older brother, the younger brother tried, among other things, to destroy the hard drive, which was later found in a public trash can in Uppsala. A car key with a hidden camera was also found during the preliminary investigation.
The prosecutor’s demand for punishment is unknown. In Sweden, aggravated espionage can result in a life sentence.
Sources: AP, AFP