Russia announced on Thursday that it has launched a criminal case against an unidentified American suspected of spying.
In a statement, Russia’s Federal Security Service said the individual “is suspected of collecting intelligence on biological topics directed against the security of the Russian Federation.”
“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case against a US citizen for an offense under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ‘Espionage’,” it added.
Information about the nature of the allegations was not immediately available.
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Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), whose headquarters are shown here in Moscow, announced the investigation of an unidentified American suspected of “espionage.”
(Image by Hohlfeld/ullstein via Getty Images)
It is also unclear if the American is currently in custody.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the US State Department for comment.
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This combination of images shows Viktor Bout, left, a suspected Russian arms dealer in Bangkok criminal court, on August 20, 2010, and WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner, right. right, in a courtroom before a hearing. , in Khimki, on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on July 27, 2022.
(AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, left, and Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)
News of the investigation comes exactly six weeks after WBNA player Brittney Griner was released from Russia in a prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
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Paul Whelan, another American jailed in Russia, was not part of that exchange in December.
Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who was arrested for alleged espionage, appears in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, on June 15, 2020.
(Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP, file)
He has been jailed on espionage charges that his family and the US government have said are baseless.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos and Nick Kalman contributed to this report.
