Estonian authorities announced this week that they had recently arrested a Russian man suspected of being an agent of the Federal Security Service (FSB) who was allegedly planning "computer-related crime."

The 20-year-old man, whose identity was not made public, was arrested last weekend in the Estonian border city of Narva as he was trying to return to Russia.

On Thursday, Patrik Maldre, an Estonian analyst at FireEye, gave a brief translation of an account of the man’s arrest in the Estonian newspaper, Postimees.

Update on alleged FSB Agent in #Estonia:

•20 yrs old

•Entered Estonia legally

•“Very good” IT skills

•Trained & instructed by FSB

•Mission: Gain #cyber-enabled & physical access to Estonian IT networks

•Unsuccessful in all cases, monitored & arrestedhttps://t.co/1VqTiUxXkx — Patrik Maldre (@pmaldre) November 8, 2017

The man has reportedly been charged with "Non-violent acts of an alien directed against the Republic of Estonia" and "Preparing a computer crime."

Potential Russian agents with technical skills are of particular interest to both American and Estonian authorities. Estonia has been particularly deft at ferreting out spies. In 2014, Estonia caught two former KGB officers on the Narva River.

Moscow in the meddle

Russia has been long suspected of meddling in the 2016 American presidential election, particularly through faux accounts and ad buys on various social media networks.

The Estonian government is particular sensitive to Russian activities, seeing as the countries are neighbors—and Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union for half of the 20th century. In 2007, Estonia was subjected to a nationalistic, politically motivated denial of service attack originating from Russia.

"Acting against the Republic of Estonia as an agent of the special service of a foreign country is without a doubt a serious crime, and we will figure out all the essential facts as soon as possible," State Prosecutor Inna Ombler told Estonia public broadcaster ERR.

"Right now, we can say without releasing any details that greater damage was prevented.”

ERR noted that Russian authorities, including the embassy in Tallinn, have been formally notified.

"Russia's diplomatic institutions are keeping a close eye on the development of the situation," the embassy told ERR. "Our consuls are ready to provide assistance to the Russian citizen when a request from him to this effect is received."

On Thursday Tallinn Russian Embassy press attaché Denis Mosyukov told Russian news wire service TASS that the embassy is helping the man get a lawyer and "figure out what's going on.”