24 Sep 2018 20:05

Moscow court arrests Yanko, suspected of espionage, until Nov 12

MOSCOW. Sept 24 (Interfax) - Moscow's Lefortovsky District Court has sanctioned the arrest of Yevgeny Yanko, who is suspected of espionage, for two months, spokeswoman of the court Yekaterina Krasnova told Interfax.

"On September 12, the court ruled to arrest Yevgeny Anatolyevich Yanko for two months, until November 12," she said.

The spokeswoman declined to specify the essence of the indictment or the personal details of the arrestee, citing the classified nature of the case.

Yanko lived in Sevastopol and is a Ukrainian citizen, according to several media reports. Investigators believe that he has collected information about the deployment of units and major formations of Russian troops, types of weapons, and other topics and has sold it, sometimes online.

Investigators discovered information that led to the opening of the espionage case after searching Yanko's computer as part of a pedophilia investigation, according to media reports.

In April, Yanko, 47, was found guilty of committing sexual violence against minors, according to the Sevastopol branch of the Investigative Committee. Sevastopol's Gagarinsky District Court sentenced him to 19 years in a maximum-security penal colony.