Passing state secrets is not always spying: FSB!

Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, has proposed changes to the criminal code. The service says they'll help distinguish between intentional data espionage and the unintentional disclosure of state secrets.

According to the draft law, giving away military or state secrets accidentally will not lead to a conviction for spying. The authors of the draft law believe that if approved by Russia's State Duma, the law will rule out any possibility of prosecuting innocent people.

Meanwhile, Viktor Ozerov, Head of Duma's Defence and Security committee, says the criminal code needs to be revised as the forms and means of espionage keep changing.

Cases of espionage are still quite common in Russia.

In April alone, the Moscow City Court found lawyer Boris Kuznetsov and academic Igor Reshetin guilty of committing crimes against the state. Kuznetsov was accused of divulging state secrets, while Reshetin was charged with illegal delivery of dual-purpose data to a Chinese corporation.