Italy serviceman arrested while selling secret documents to Russian spy

Italy yesterday became the last stage of the Russian espionage in Europe, after intelligence services hold a Naval officer when i was about to deliver confidential documents to a soldier stationed at the Moscow embassy in Rome in exchange for money.

The case led the government of Mario Draghi to expel two Russian diplomats and to invoke the ambassador to give explanations. The government of Vladimir Poutine he confined himself to saying that he had no details of the affair and to expressing his confidence “that the positive and constructive character of our relations will be maintained and preserved”.

The case comes at a delicate moment in relations between Russia and Europe, tense because of the arrest of the opponent Alexéi Navalny, complaints of human rights violations and other cases of espionage.

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Italian naval officer, a commander, was arrested for the blatant crime of espionage in favor of Russia, when he handed over confidential documents to a Russian army in exchange for money in a parking lot in Rome. The operation was performed by Carabinieri, Under the supervision of Italian counter-espionage and the Defense staff after a long investigation.

“The intervention took place during a clandestine meeting between the two men, who were caught exchanging confidential documents in exchange for a sum of money,” police said in a statement.

According to the Italian press, the captain, whose name is Walter Biot, was going to receive 5000 euros in exchange for handing over the documents, which included NATO Archives. The officer was part of the general staff and therefore had access to confidential documents.

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“He could have sold documents from Alliance international missions in the country such as Iraq and Afghanistan”Wrote the Corriere della Sera.

The transfer of classified documents by an Italian officer to an officer of the Russian armed forces in Italy “is a hostile act extremely serious ”for which“ we are immediately taking the necessary measures ”, assured the Italian Chancellor, Luigi Di Maio, during a communication to the Senate.

“We have summoned the Russian ambassador to Italy and we have communicated the firm protest of the Italian government and we have notified the immediate expulsion of two Russian officials involved in this serious affair,” he added.

This is the latest incident in a series of Russian spy cases in Europe. Many German parliamentarians and politicians from this country denounced computer attacks which could be traced back to Russia.

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More, Bulgaria announced ten days ago the expulsion of two Russian diplomats after the discovery of an alleged spy network for the benefit of Moscow.

A French officer, based at NATO headquarters in Italy, was recently accused of providing important documents to the Russian secret service and is being held in Paris.

Moscow accuses the European Union to have a “confrontational position”, while the EU also blames Russia for frequent “cyber attacks” against individual member states.

SF