Russia detains Aeroflot exec for spying - agencies

Russia has reportedly detained an executive at Aeroflot on suspicion of passing state secrets to Britain.

That’s according to Russian news agencies.

The detained man is named as Dmitry Fedotkin, who is said to deny all charges.

Fedotkin’s profile on the LinkedIn website says he was Aeroflot’s station manager in the UK for the past five years, and the airline’s country manager for three years before that.

A Russian source is quoted as saying Fedotkin passed secrets to Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service.

Aeroflot said it had no information about the case, and the British embassy in Russia referred all queries to local authorities.

Records from a district court in Moscow show that a state treason case was opened Wednesday (November 11) against an individual named as D. A. Fedotkin.

If convicted of high treason, he could face 20 years in jail.

Russia periodically detains soldiers, scientists and other state employees on suspicion of passing state secrets to foreign countries.

The country’s relations with Britain have been frozen at post-Cold War lows since the 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal - a former Russian spy who passed secrets to MI6.

UK authorities believe that attack was conducted by Russian security operatives.