Russia holds TNK-BP employee for ‘spying’

The diplomatic row between Russia and the UK threatened to spill over into the business sector on Thursday after Russia’s security service said it had detained an employee of TNK-BP, BP’s Russian oil joint venture, for spying.

Only one day after police raided BP’s Moscow office and those of TNK-BP, Russia’s Federal Security Service said it had detained two brothers, one of whom worked at TNK-BP, for industrial espionage.