News

DATE=11/30/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=RUSSIA / U-S / ESPIONAGE (S) NUMBER=2-256652 BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN DATELINE=MOSCOW CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Russian security services have briefly detained a junior U-S diplomat in Moscow who they say was trying to obtain Russian government secrets. V-O- A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports. TEXT: A spokesman for Russia's Federal Security Service says a second secretary at the U-S embassy in Moscow was detained late Monday during what was described as a spy operation. The young woman was taken into custody, but later released to embassy officials. The state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted security service spokesman Alexander Zdanovich as saying the diplomat had tried to receive information of a military-strategic nature that constitutes a Russian state secret. A U-S embassy spokesman could neither confirm nor deny the incident. The diplomat's detention came the same day as an announcement in Washington that a U-S Navy petty officer had been accused of giving secret defense information to Russia in 1994. /// UNVOICED OPT /// Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov issued a statement Tuesday saying he hopes the detention of the embassy official does not interfere with relations between Moscow and Washington. "But", he added "it will not help improve the climate of relations." (Signed) NEB/PFH/JWH/gm 30-Nov-1999 04:57 AM EDT (30-Nov-1999 0957 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .