Convicted for leaking secrets
Moscow: A former Russian security service officer has been sentenced to four years internal exile on Wednesday for
exposing state secrets, allegedly to the British security service MI5. Mikhail Trepashkin investigated the bombing of
apartment blocks in Russia in 1999 for a commission of independent members of the Russian Parliament (MPs). Chechen
rebels were blamed for the blasts, which killed 246 people and provoked the second war in the separatist republic. The
Kremlin's critics have said that the Russian security service, the FSB, was behind the blasts. The Russian
President, Vladimir Putin's tough military response to the attacks led him to victory in the presidential election
in March 2000. Mr. Trepashkin claimed to have found evidence confirming the suspected FSB involvement.
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RUSSIA IN FACTS
