Lithuania votes paves way for large spy swap with Russia

Lithuanian lawmakers have voted to pass a bill that is paving the way for a spy swap with neighboring Russia.

The exchange could include a Norwegian citizen serving a 14-year sentence for espionage in a Russian jail.

Lithuania’s parliament voted 76-2 to give the country’s president the right to pardon a convict involved in a spy swap deal.

Frode Berg, a 63-year-old retired Norwegian border inspector, was arrested in Moscow in December 2017 on espionage charges.

Vilnius could hand over a man sentenced in 2017 by a Lithuanian court to 10 years in prison for spying for Russia’s main intelligence agency. In return, two Lithuanians who both were sentenced to 12 years in 2016 for spying in Russia could be released.