Overview
- Israel’s Shin Bet and the Defense Ministry identified the suspect as 30-year-old Russian national Vitaly Zvyagintsev.
- Prosecutors filed charges on December 19 for offenses against state security, and an indictment cited by local media says he confessed.
- Investigators allege he carried out directed surveillance of ports, Israeli and U.S. vessels, and a Haifa refinery, and was detained on December 4 at Ramat David airbase while recording.
- Authorities say he acted on instructions from Iranian intelligence and received nearly $5,000 via a handler who called himself “Roman.”
- Russia’s embassy in Israel formally requested consular access to Zvyagintsev and said it has not received appeals from him or his relatives.