“Russia is Sweden’s biggest security threat.” The Stockholm court found two citizens of the country guilty of spying for Russia
The Stockholm district court found two Swedish citizens guilty of spying for Russia. The local calls it the most serious espionage scandal in modern Sweden’s history.
According to the investigators, the brothers Peyman and Payam Kia have forwarded information to the Russian special services that threatens Sweden’s national security for ten years.
Peiman Kia, 42, formerly of the State Security Police and the Armed Forces, obtained classified information through his official position, while Payam Kia, 35, passed this information on to Russian intelligence and was paid for it, a court heard press release.
After a trial that lasted more than a year, the court sentenced Peyman Kia to life imprisonment and Payam Kia to nine years and ten months in prison.
“Russia is the biggest security threat to Sweden, so espionage for Russia should be considered the most serious.” The Local cited the court decision.
The brothers have pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers plan to appeal the verdict.
- The brothers Peyman and Payam Kia were detained by Swedish police in the fall of 2021. They confiscated equipment, several data carriers, cash and gold, which, according to Aftonbladet, they received for their spying activities.
- After the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine, media reports regularly appear about the exposure of Russian spies and citizens working in the interests of Russia in European countries.
- In late December 2022, the head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence and Counterintelligence Service, Bruno Kahl, announced that a Russian spy had been exposed within the ranks of the intelligence service itself.