Last December, two people were arrested in the center of Ljubljana on suspicion of espionage. The operation was led by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Ljubljana based on a report from the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency (Sova). We have unofficially learned that both arrested persons are Russian spies.
“At the District State Prosecutor’s Office in Ljubljana, we received an announcement from the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency, on the basis of which pre-trial proceedings were initiated,” the Ljubljana Prosecutor’s Office answered when we asked whether a Russian spy had indeed been arrested in the Slovenian capital. “The criminal investigation has been legally initiated by the court’s decision and is ongoing. The court ordered the detention of both defendants, who were deprived of their liberty on December 5, 2022,” the prosecutor’s office explained, but they could not provide more information due to the confidentiality of the data.
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Who were the spies?
As we learned unofficially, both arrested persons had citizenships and passports of third countries, so they did not present themselves as Russian citizens. In Slovenia, they opened a company that was supposed to officially deal with the resale of antiques. The company had offices in an office building in the center of Ljubljana, where they were also deprived of their freedom.
For which Russian secret service or the intelligence agency the arrested woman is supposed to work for, we did not manage to find out. According to unofficial information, the discovered cell of spies from Ljubljana is said to be conducting operations not only in Slovenia, but also abroad.
How did they find the spy?
As confirmed by the prosecutor’s office and we have already mentioned in the article, the Slovenian law enforcement and judicial authorities were informed by Sova about the activities of the two spies. As we learned unofficially, the operation was supposed to take place in cooperation with foreign intelligence services.
What will happen to the spies?
As explained by the prosecutor’s office, both detained persons are currently in custody. The prosecutor’s office did not tell us whether they cooperate with the Slovenian law enforcement authorities. It is also not clear whether the two spies will sit on the dock before Slovenian judges. If the two spies are tried in Slovenia, they face up to eight years in prison, according to the indictment.
The prosecution is prosecuting both persons under the third paragraph of Article 358 of the Criminal Code, which states:
Whoever joins the foreign intelligence service referred to in the previous paragraph or supports its work shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years.
In addition to espionage, Slovenian prosecutors also accuse the two arrested persons of verifying false content (Article 253 of the Penal Code), as a result of which they face an additional sentence of up to three years in prison.
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What we don’t know yet
Many questions about the arrest remain open. How long did the spy cell operate in Ljubljana? What operations did they carry out in Slovenia and in which foreign countries were the “Ljubljana” spies active? How did they finance the operations and were there really only two spies in Ljubljana? Are there other persons under investigation, perhaps also Slovenian citizens?
We try to obtain answers to the above questions from the competent law enforcement authorities, ministries and agencies.
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