Russia’s domestic intelligence agency announced Thursday it has launched an espionage case against a U.S. citizen.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) alleged that the American national “collected intelligence information of a biological nature aimed against Russia’s security.”
The FSB did not identify the man by name.
It also did not specify when the U.S. citizen was detained or where he was being held.
Charges of espionage carry a prison sentence of between 10-20 years.
The unnamed man is the latest U.S. citizen to be jailed in Russia as the two countries' relations stand at their lowest point in decades due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
A number of U.S. prisoners have been exchanged for Russians imprisoned in the United States in what Russian officials described as “silent diplomacy” on prisoner swaps.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has not commented on the FSB’s statement.
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