MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court has extended detention of Norwegian citizen Frode Berg charged with espionage until December 5, the court’s spokesperson Yekaterina Krasnova has told RAPSI.

Berg may be swapped for Mikhail Bochkarev, a Russian citizen arrested in Norway on suspicion of spying there, the defendant’s attorney Ilya Novikov told RAPSI earlier. The matter of exchange is still up in the air as Norwegian authorities are yet to bring charges against the Russian citizen, according to the lawyer.

Reportedly, the Norwegian citizen was arrested when he received secret documents containing information on Russian navy in December 2017. These papers were allegedly given to him by Russian national Alexey Zhitnyuk, who was detained in December 2017 on suspicion of treason.

Berg has pleaded not guilty.

In September, Russian investigators authorized a supplementary expert examination in the case against Berg. According to the defense, authorization of a new examination is either an additional reason for extension of the defendant’s detention or indication of investigators’ poor job.