Slovenian authorities said on Monday the EU country’s intelligence services had detained two suspected spies, with media reports saying they were allegedly working for Russia.
The Ljubljana Public Prosecution confirmed two men had been detained in December suspected of spying for a foreign country, but did not give more details since the investigation was still under way.
“The court has ordered a criminal investigation that is still being carried out against the two suspects who were detained on December 5,” public prosecutor Katarina Bergant told AFP.
The detainees are members of the Russian military intelligence organisation GRU and had false identities, Slovenian daily Delo said.
The two had registered a real estate and antiques business in Ljubljana as a cover-up, with one of them holding Argentine citizenship, it added.
Last April, Slovenia, a member of the European Union and NATO, expelled 33 Russians working in the country’s Ljubljana embassy following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
