Russia’s Federal Security Service has detained a high-ranking official of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) who had been cooperating with Lithuanian secret services for a long time, Itar-Tass reported on Tuesday.

The FSB’s public relations center identified the detainee as Lt-Col Vasily Khitryuk of the FSIN’s internal service office in Kaliningrad, Russia’s Baltic exclave.

The officer allegedly passed state military secrets to the Baltic country’s security services, RIA Novosti adds.

“The suspect used his former colleagues and friends who serve in the Russian army and security-related agencies to obtain confidential information”, the service said in a statement.

“Following orders from a Lithuanian intelligence officer, he [Khitryuk] offered them monetary rewards for supplying him with copies of secret documents,” the statement said.

The FSB said that during Khitryuk’s arrest, officers seized computer storage devices with files containing top-secret information on the combat readiness of the Baltic Fleet and Russia’s military contingent in Kaliningrad.

The service said it had gathered enough evidence to launch a criminal investigation.

The Embassy of Lithuania in Moscow refused to comment on the arrest. “We do not comment on such information,” an embassy official quoted by RIA Novosti said.

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