The London boss of Russian airline Aeroflot has been arrested on suspicion of high treason after allegedly handing over state secrets to British intelligence.
Dmitry Fedotkin, 39, who has run Aeroflot’s operations in the UK for the last five years, was arrested on Wednesday in Moscow, state media reported.
He is accused of ‘betraying secret information about the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation to the British intelligence service.’
He has worked for the Russian state airline for the last 16 years, and was first posted to the UK in 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.
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Flag carrier Aeroflot said it had ‘no information’ on his arrest, which happened during a trip back to Moscow.
The Russian Criminal Code article on high treason concerns the sharing of information constituting a state secret by a Russian citizen with a foreign state, international or foreign organisation.
Fedotkin has been ordered to remain in jail at Moscow’s Lefortovo Court for two months in connection with the high treason case.
No details have been disclosed about the precise allegations against him.
If convicted he faces up to 20 years in jail.
