Another Russian spying operation uncovered in a matter of weeks. This time in Italy.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said his country expelled two Russian officials on Wednesday, after an Italian navy captain was arrested for allegedly selling confidential documents for cash, to a Russian military officer.

According to media outlet, Corriere della Sera, the navy officer sold “top secret” Nato files as well as sensitive Italian military dossiers to the Russian official.

Italian authorities became suspicious a few months ago, after Italy’s intel, began monitoring contact between the Italian navy captain and the Russian military officer. After close surveillance and enough evidence collected, the police intervened last night, and moved in “during a clandestine meeting” between the Italian captain and Russian military official.

According to police, “The Italian official was taken into custody, while the position of the foreign national is still under consideration in relation to his diplomatic status.”

Russia’s foreign ministry said: “We regret the expulsion from Rome of two employees of the Russian embassy. We are investigating the circumstances of the decision. We will make a further announcement on our possible next steps in relation to this measure, which does not correspond to the level of bilateral relations.”

Russia’s press secretary Peskov added, “We do not currently have information about the reasons and circumstances of this detention. But in any case, we hope that the very positive and constructive nature of Russian-Italian relations will continue and will continue,” he said.

Meanwhile, Italy’s foreign ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Razov, on Wednesday morning to discuss the matter.

This comes weeks after a GRU operation was uncovered in Bulgaria leading to expulsion of Russian diplomats and arrest of 6 GRU officers. https://twitter.com/OlgaNYC1211/status/1372764411379609609?s=20