FSB obtains arrest order for third treason suspect in past three days

Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court has granted the third petition submitted by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the past three days, seeking the arrest of a treason suspect.

The only thing publicly known about this FSB-initiated treason case is the suspect’s last name and his initials, “R. N. Rasulov,” TASS reports.

The court hasn’t publicized any further information about the case. Until now, Mediazona points out, it’s been standard practice in prosecuting treason and espionage to publish the suspects’ full names, and even their birth year in some cases.

Earlier this week, the FSB submitted two similar petitions seeking the arrest of two other treason suspects. On April 25, it sought the arrest of someone identified only as “A. S. Dovgan,” with no further information about the case. The next day, a second arrest petition was filed, asking to sanction the arrest of Yury Plyske as part of the same treason case.

BBC News Russian has calculated that R. N. Rasulov is the 25th treason suspect arrested in Russia since the start of 2023.