FSB busts alleged New Zealand intelligence source in Russia's Far East

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a 55-year-old resident of Khabarovsk on allegations of passing information to New Zealand's intelligence service, the agency's Public Relations Centre said.

"It was established that a Khabarovsk resident, born in 1971, independently established contact with representatives of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, which is part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), and, for financial gain, acting on instructions from a foreign intelligence service, transmitted information through foreign email services and messaging platforms that could be used against the security of the Russian Federation," the FSB noted.

A criminal case has been opened against the suspect on charges of high treason, and he has been placed in pretrial detention, the agency added.

By Jeyhun Aghazada