International
US, Russia engage in tit-for-tat arrests over espionage
The strained relationship between Washington and Moscow has been further complicated following tit-for-tat detentions.
Reports say a day after Russia arrested an ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan on suspicion of spying, the FBI followed with the arrest of Russian national identified as Dmitry Makarenko.
According to reports, Whelan was taken into custody by Russia’s Federal Security Service on Dec. 28 after he arrived Moscow to attend a wedding.
Confirming the arrest of its citizen, Russia’s ministry said the United States detained Makarenko on Dec. 29 on the Northern Mariana Islands, and had transferred him to Florida.
Read also: US Senate hands Trump rare double rebuke over war in Yemen, murder of Khashoggi
“… Makarenko, born in 1979, has arrived on Saipan Island with his wife, underage children and elderly parents. He was detained by FBI personnel at the airport right after his arrival,” the ministry said.
Papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida show Makarenko was accused in June 2017 by federal prosecutors of conspiring with another man, Vladimir Nevidomy, to export defence articles including night-vision scopes from the United States to Russia without U.S. approval.
The Russian was also declared a fugitive from U.S. justice in Jan. 2018.
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