DATE=11/30/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / U-S / ESPIONAGE (S)
NUMBER=2-256652
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian security services have briefly
detained a junior U-S diplomat in Moscow who they say
was trying to obtain Russian government secrets. V-O-
A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports.
TEXT: A spokesman for Russia's Federal Security
Service says a second secretary at the U-S embassy in
Moscow was detained late Monday during what was
described as a spy operation. The young woman was
taken into custody, but later released to embassy
officials.
The state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted security
service spokesman Alexander Zdanovich as saying the
diplomat had tried to receive information of a
military-strategic nature that constitutes a Russian
state secret.
A U-S embassy spokesman could neither confirm nor deny
the incident.
The diplomat's detention came the same day as an
announcement in Washington that a U-S Navy petty
officer had been accused of giving secret defense
information to Russia in 1994.
/// UNVOICED OPT ///
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov issued a
statement Tuesday saying he hopes the detention of the
embassy official does not interfere with relations
between Moscow and Washington. "But", he added "it
will not help improve the climate of relations."
(Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/gm
30-Nov-1999 04:57 AM EDT (30-Nov-1999 0957 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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