The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) arrested a Georgian citizen on alleged “espionage” for a foreign intelligence service, and said Interpol red notices will be sought for two more Georgians facing similar charges. While the agency did not specify the foreign country the suspects were working for, pro-government Rustavi 2 channel said in an “exclusive report” that they were spying for Russia.
Speaking at an April 22 briefing, first deputy head of the SSSG, Lasha Maghradze, said the detained individual will be charged under Article 314 of Georgia’s Criminal Code, which carries a sentence of eight to twelve years in prison. He added that the same charge will be brought in absentia against two other suspects, who are currently not in Georgia.
Maghradze said the agency’s counterintelligence operations revealed that “the detained person was recruited by a foreign country’s special service and was assigned a pseudonym.” He did not name the country allegedly involved.
“An officer of a foreign intelligence service instructed the Georgian citizen, in exchange for a certain sum of money, to collect various types of information against Georgia’s interests for the purpose of passing it to the foreign special service,” Maghradze said.
According to him, the investigation found that the detainee had been tasked with gathering information on Georgian law enforcement agencies, including the State Security Service, the Interior Ministry, and the Defense Ministry, “regarding the locations of their deployments, forces, and assets, as well as photo and video documentation of their facilities.”
He added that the suspect was also instructed to collect information on the locations of “strategic infrastructure” across Georgia, “including bridges, roads, railways and other designated facilities, as well as photo and video documentation of said locations, and other matters.”
Maghradze further said the two other Georgian citizens had been identified for a “similar crime,” saying that they were “recruited by the same foreign country’s special service employees and, in accordance with the assignments they received, were collecting information of various kinds to the detriment of Georgia’s interests and transmitting it to representatives of a foreign country’s special service.”
He added that “relevant operational and investigative measures had been carried out over a long period.”
The article was last updated on April 22, 22:00 Tbilisi time, to include Rustavi 2’s report.
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