Swedish security police arrested a couple suspected of illegal intelligence activities in Stockholm on Tuesday.
12:12•Updated 13:03
A couple suspected of illegal intelligence activities in Sweden has owned an apartment next door to an agent of the Russian military intelligence GRU. A Swedish newspaper tells about it Dagens Nyheter (you switch to another service) and a Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (you switch to another service) in cooperation with the supplier network Belingcat.
A couple from Russia was arrested in a joint operation by the security police Säpo and the Swedish Defense Forces in a residential area in Stockholm earlier this week. The couple has Swedish citizenships.
A man in his 60s was captured yesterday Friday (you will switch to another service) suspected of gross intelligence activities against Sweden and the United States. The US federal police, the FBI, is participating in the investigation.
The woman was released, but she is suspected of aiding and abetting crimes. The couple’s intelligence activities are believed to have continued for almost ten years.
The prosecutor emphasized during the custody trial that the man is not suspected of espionage.
– I can generally say that it has been the acquisition of technology for the Russian military industry, the prosecutor Henrik Olin said for DN (you switch to another service).
The suspected couple owned an apartment in a Moscow apartment building between 1999 and 2015. According to VG, several GRU agents have lived in the same house. However, it is unclear whether the couple ever lived in the apartment themselves, as they moved to Sweden in 1999. There was also a third owner in the apartment, the suspect’s daughter.
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According to a Norwegian expert interviewed by VG, it is common for GRU agents to be given an apartment while traveling abroad.
According to the information obtained from Bellingacat, the newspapers lived on the same floor of the same apartment building Denis Sergeevan agent of the military intelligence GRU suspected of involvement Sergei Skripal poisoning in Salisbury, England in 2018. In addition, the apartment is located within walking distance of the property believed to be the GRU academy.
Ylen’s Nordic correspondent Pirjo Auvinen reviewed Sweden’s espionage cases earlier this week.
Read more:
Swedish security police arrested two suspected spies – Media: It’s a Russian couple