OREANDA-NEWS The Federal government of Switzerland has given official permission to the Prosecutor General's office to initiate criminal proceedings against two Russian citizens who are suspected of spying on the laboratory of radiological and chemical analysis in Spitz.

This is reported by the Swiss radio station RSI with reference to the press Secretary of the Prosecutor General of Switzerland Andre Marti.

"Today, the Prosecutor's office was given the green light by the Ministry of justice to continue the investigation of the alleged political espionage," the radio station quotes its interlocutor. "I can confirm that the procedure was opened in March 2017 and has since been under consideration," Marty added, refusing to provide any details on the case.

In Switzerland, political offences can only be prosecuted with the official permission of the Federal government. This permit is issued by the Ministry of justice.​

The publication Swissinfo adds that the received permission from the government gives the Swiss Prosecutor's office the opportunity to impose coercive measures on suspected Russians. However, due to the political nature of the crime, an international arrest warrant is unlikely, the newspaper notes. The most likely option Swissinfo calls the issuance of a national arrest warrant in Switzerland.

In September of this year, the Swiss edition of Tages-Anzeiger, citing its sources, reported that two Russians were detained in the Netherlands in the spring. They were suspected of trying to get data from a Swiss laboratory. If you currently have detained it was discovered the equipment to break into computer networks. It was reported that the operation to capture "spies" was carried out in the framework of a joint special operation of Switzerland, great Britain and the Netherlands. The detained Russians, as specified by Tages-Anzeiger, were later sent to Russia.

The publication clarified that the laboratory in Spitz was involved in the investigation of chemical attacks in Syria, and also worked on the case of poisoning in the UK former Colonel GRU Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia.

Later, these same Russians were suspected of trying to hack the systems of the world anti-doping Agency (WADA) in order to gain access to data on the doping investigation against Russia.