Israel’s military attache to Russia was expelled on suspicion of spying after three warnings, according to a Russian newspaper.
Vadim Leiderman, who was expelled earlier this month, had continued to contact Russian military officials without coordinating with the Russian Foreign Ministry, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported, according to Israeli media reports.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Leiderman of violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in its warnings. The warnings are reported to have been issued in November 2009, April 2010 and last December.
Leiderman reportedly was arrested at a coffee shop in Moscow, where he was meeting with a Russian military officer. He and his family were given 24 hours to leave the country, which they did.
Israel’s Shin Bet security service and Defense Ministry investigated Leiderman, and he submitted to a lie detector test before Israeli officials declared that Russian accusations of espionage were unfounded.
Russia’s security service told reporters in Moscow that Leiderman had attempted to glean information on secret military sales to Arab states and recruit Russian civilians as spies for Israel. He also has been accused of lobbying on behalf of an Israeli defense company.
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A fire and explosions ripped through a munitions storage depot in Russia on Thursday, prompting authorities to evacuate hundreds of residents, Russian news agencies reported.
No deaths or injuries were immediately reported in the blaze at a storage site in Bashkortostan, some 1,200 km (750 miles) east of Moscow.
Residents of a military garrison at the site and nearby homes were being evacuated, Interfax reported, citing regional emergency response officials. State-run RIA reported that some 2,500 people were being evacuated.
Interfax said artillery shells were exploding and cited an official as saying the fire may have spread from nearby woods. RIA, however, cited another official as saying ammunition had exploded while being transported for destruction.
Wildfires were burning on more than 10,000 hectares of Russian forests as of Wednesday, the Emergency Situations Ministry said, mostly further east in Siberia.
Blasts and fires at munitions depots in the former Soviet Union have often been caused by negligence.