Russian Security Services (FSB) have accused a former official of the US embassy in Russia of "cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state or an international or foreign organization" The alleged allegations against the former US embassy official are not independently verifiable nor are TASS statements verifiable. The man is now being held in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison.
In recent years, there have been several cases of American citizens being arrested in Russia on charges that Washington considers politically motivated.