Ericsson Keeps Its Secrets

Russian Foreign Ministry declares two Swedish diplomats persona non grata

The Russian government decided to declare two Swedish diplomats persona non grata. On December 2, Swedish ambassador to Moscow, Sven Hirdman, was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Mr. Hirdman was informed of the decision by the Russian government to declare two employees of the Swedish embassy persona non grata. This decision was made in connection with activity that has caused damage to Russia’s national security interests.

This measure was taken in response to the decision of the Swedish government to expel two Russian diplomats. On November 11th, the Russian embassy in Stockholm was informed that two Russian diplomats were declared persona non grata. The government of Sweden did so on account of the fact that Russian diplomats’ activity did not correspond to their status.

The Swedish mass media reported that the expulsion of the diplomats was connected with the investigation of industrial espionage against the Swedish giant telecom maker Ericsson.

Here is the gist of the scandal. On November 6th, the Security Service of Sweden announced that there were three Swedish nationals detained on November 5th on the outskirts of Stockholm. The detained men were suspected of industrial spying. One of them is allegedly the main figure of the case. It is believed that he sold secret documents of the Swedish company to foreign intelligence for a certain period of time. That man was nabbed while handing over information to a representative of a foreign service. The same day, spokesman for the telecommunication company Ericsson, Henry Stenson, clarified that the three arrested men were the employees of his company. He added that their spying caused “limited” damage to the company.

It became possible to arrest the suspects due to Ericsson’s cooperation with police. Ericsson is the leading Swedish telephone producer. This company develops state-of-the-art communication technology.

Dmitry Chirkin PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov