Moscow: Russian authorities have charged two former officers in the Federal Security Service and an employee of cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab with committing treason in the interests of the United States, the Interfax news agency reported.

The agency cited Ivan Pavlov, a lawyer who said he was representing one of the three arrested men. Pavlov identified the three as Kaspersky employee Ruslan Stoyanov and as security service officers specialising in cyber security Sergei Mikhailov and Dmitry Dokuchayev.

‘Mikhailov, Dokuchayev, and Stoyanov have been charged with state treason in the interests of the United States,’ Interfax quoted Pavlov as saying. He declined to say which of the three he was representing.