The man, and his wife, were arrested during a high-profile dawn raid in a residential area outside Stockholm last year. In the media, they have been described as the “spy couple” because initially she was also a suspect. However, all suspicions against the wife have been dropped.
The 60-year-old is now charged with having committed crimes linked to Russian military technology procurement, which is alleged to have taken place through companies the man owns, including one that deals with trade and industrial equipment. The technology is said to have then been exported to Russia.
The prosecutor claims that the man has had contacts with several people working within the GRU, the Russian intelligence and security service, and that the activities have posed a significant threat to national security, in both Sweden and the United States.
– According to what other experts also say, this is a strategy that Russia uses, that you have companies and people around the world who in some way use their contacts to procure what Russia needs, that is, that you take detours to circumvent sanctions, export and import opportunities, says SVT’s crime reporter Sofia Yohannes in Morgonstudionin place in the Stockholm district court on the opening day of the trial.
The man immigrated to Sweden from Russia and since 2012 has Swedish citizenship. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
SVT follows the trial and the text is continuously updated.