Albanian Prime Minister Says Espionage Accusations Against Russians ‘Laughable’

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama has commented on the incident involving two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian who were detained after entering the territory of an arms factory in the Albanian city of Gramsh, saying that the espionage charges the trio now face are "laughable."

"The fog that rose over the so-called especially important sites was an occasion for tears and laughter. These are not even factories that produce weapons. They are declassified as sites of special significance. Their electricity was cut off… because they cannot afford to pay their electricity bills. They have several guards to protect them from encroachment. To say that espionage was carried out by fabricating the remnants of communism is very ridiculous. What should concern us is what were the real intentions of these people in our country. A spy mission with a sports car that looks like it's yelling ‘catch me’ is laughable," Rama said on Saturday, as quoted by Albanian Daily News.

On August 20, Albanian media reported that two Russian citizens, 33-year-old Svetlana Timofeyeva and 23-year-old Mikhail Zorin, as well as Ukrainian citizen Fyodor Alpatov, were detained in Albania for allegedly breaching a weapons factory in Gramsh. They are facing espionage charges for entering the territory of the arms plant. The trio has denied the accusations. They say they blog about abandoned Soviet military sites. The military plant in Gramsh remains guarded despite being derelict.

The Albanian police said its anti-terrorism unit is handling the case. It has been passed to the Elbasan judicial district prosecutor's office for further processing. Each charge the two Russians and the Ukrainian face carries a jail term of up to 10 years under Albanian criminal law.

The Russian Embassy in Albania told Sputnik that it had not received any information from the Albanian authorities regarding the alleged detention of Russian citizens in Gramsh, and had only seen information about the alleged incident in Albanian media.

The Czech Television reported last weekend that four Czech nationals had also been detained in Albania for allegedly taking photographs of a military facility. The incident involving two men and two women occurred in the city of Polican last Sunday.