A Russian court has ordered the arrest on treason charges of a representative of the Aeroflot flagship airline’s office in Britain, state media reported Thursday.
Dmitry Fedotkin has been placed in pre-trial detention until Jan. 10, 2021, according to the state-run TASS news agency. A court database shows that Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court registered the treason case against a D.A. Fedotkin on Wednesday.
A Dmitry Fedotkin’s LinkedIn profile says that he has been an Aeroflot country and station manager in London since December 2012.
“Fedotkin is suspected of passing secrets about Russia’s social and political situation to the British intelligence services,” TASS quoted an unnamed source close to the investigation as saying.
“At the same time, he did not have access to state secrets due to the nature of his activities,” they added.
Fedotkin faces up to 20 years in prison if he is found guilty.
TASS reported that Fedotkin maintains his innocence.
Aeroflot told state agencies Thursday that they were unaware of Fedotkin’s detention.
Another unnamed source in Aeroflot told the RBC news website that security services carried out searches at the airline’s Moscow offices Wednesday but did not say why.
Fedotkin is the latest Russian national to be jailed for alleged high treason or disclosing state secrets, with a number of scientists, civil servants and journalists being imprisoned or charged under the same treason law in recent years.
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