MOSCOW, December 1 (RAPSI) - The Sverdlovsk Regional Court on Tuesday extended until January 15 the detention of Ukrainian national Sergei Skirta, born in 1981, who stands charged with an attempted acquisition of technical information that could result in damages worth hundreds of millions of rubles, RIA Novosti reported.

The court also upheld the lower court’s ruling to return the case against Skirta to prosecutors for elimination of violations which bar the hearing on the merits.

Skirta, a representative of the Poltava producer of compressor equipment, was collecting technical information from the region’s mechanical engineering companies, according to the Russian Federal Security Service.

Investigators claim to have reliably recorded that Skirta established relationships with employees at Russian companies for the purposes of buying information of interest to Ukraine. The FSB claims to have established that Skirta used clandestine methods in his contacts with Russian citizens.

The Ukrainian national was arrested in Yekaterinburg in late February 2015 when he received the first package of design documents for the production of high-tech power generation equipment.

The suspect has been charged with illegal acquisition and disclosure of information that constitutes commercial, tax or bank secrets.

Skirta has pleaded guilty of illegal activity.