On Monday, a Russian-born Swedish national was charged with collecting intelligence for Russia’s GRU military intelligence for almost a decade.
The Swedish prosecutor’s office said Sergei Skvortsov, 60, was charged with “serious illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and against a foreign power,” which she called the United States.
Skvortsov was arrested in November along with his wife in an operation in Naka, on the outskirts of Stockholm, and taken into custody, but his lawyer Ulrika Borg says he denies any wrongdoing.
According to the indictment, from July 1, 2014 to November 2022, Skvortsov “secretly and/or using fraudulent means carried out activities in favor of the Russian state in order to obtain information, the disclosure of which to a foreign power could cast doubt on the “threat to the security of Sweden”.
According to the indictment, Skvortsov used electronic equipment and was part of a spy ring in the service of the Russian regime.
Prosecutors allege that Skvortsov used his import-export firm to illegally obtain technology and deliver it to the GRU.
“The deal also involved obtaining data in the form of information and acquiring various objects that the Russian state and the armed forces – due to export regulations and sanctions – were unable to acquire on the open market,” the lawyers said.
The head of the counterintelligence arm of the Swedish internal security agency, Daniel Stenling, said he was aware of other similar companies exporting products to Russia, but declined to provide further details.
Swedish television channel SVT reported that Skvortsov had lived in Sweden for 25 years and received Swedish citizenship in 2012.
The trial is due to begin on September 4th.
The witnesses include an FBI special agent “to testify that Sergei Skvortsov’s activities could endanger US security” and that his activities included “negotiations with several US companies,” the indictment says.
If the court finds Skvortsov guilty, he faces up to six years in prison.