http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/06/13/7564.html
12:13 2001-06-13
US NATIONAL EXPELLED FROM RUSSIA FOR COLLECTING “DEFENCE INFORMATION”
A high-profile row has broken out in the Siberian city of Omsk.
Elizabeth Sweet, a US national, has been expelled from Russia. According to
the Federal Security Service’s regional unit, she collected information of
defence-related companies.
Elizabeth Sweet, professor of international economy, has been teaching
economics and the English language at the faculty of the International
business of the Omsk State University. FSB officials pointed to the fact that
Prof. Sweet gave her students assignments to assess the social and economic
situation in the region, including the condition of state-controlled
companies, according to the Do-Info news agency.
In the meantime, three fourths of companies in the region are so far
considered defence-related. The first signal came from the director of the
Irtysh amalgamation. He was concerned that the information collected by the
student would have a negative impact on the plant’s image and also could be
used by the “foreign side for collecting data of a real state of affairs at
the companies included in the country’s military-industrial complex.”
Although Russia’s Federal Security Service do no have enough grounds to
accuse Prof. Sweet of espionage, her work has been wrapped up, and she
herself expelled.
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