FSB warns two Russian citizens who tried to sell concocted military secrets to the CIA

Two residents of the Trans-Baikal city of Borzi had offered the CIA secret Russian military information that was false, said Russia's security service the FSB on Tuesday.

According to the FSB, a man had written the CIA a letter in 2015 with an offer to sell military information. The CIA, FSB noted, expressed interest in the proposal, but did not hold discussions in regards to payment. The man subsequently asked a friend serving in the military to create a report for the CIA claiming that Ukraine had received missiles from Russia that it intended to aim at the United States. In reality, the men had no access to any sensitive information and had invented the story in its entirety.

Russia has not initiated a criminal case against the men as they had not actually revealed any secret information. Instead, the men were warned of the inadmissibility of such actions.

FSB officials were surprised that the CIA would express interest in information coming from such dubious sources.

In early 2015, Svetlana Davydova, a resident of Vyazma, was arrested for reporting to the Embassy of Ukraine about the possibility of troops being sent to Ukraine without having reliable information on the issue. Davydova was prosecuted for treason, a development that caused a notable stir. The case was subsequently closed.