The search for an Italian spy who would have transferred secret NATO information to the Russians came to a temporary end in a parking lot in Rome on Tuesday. There, Walter Biot, a navy captain with a desk job in the Ministry of Defense, was arrested for espionage.
Biot, who has been transferred to Regina Coeli prison in Rome, has handed over documents to a Russian military attaché, according to Italian justice. Justice has found a memory card with 190 confidential or highly confidential documents and 47 secret files.
“A hostile act of extreme seriousness,” said Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio after the arrest. The military attaché and another Russian diplomat have been expelled from Italy.
Four children, four dogs and a mortgage
So much for the exciting part. Because the Italian justice, who had followed Biot for months, apparently did not consider the information important enough to prevent it from falling into Russian hands at all costs. The reward that the Italian navy man received from the Russians also does not indicate super sensitive material: 5000 euros.
He needed that money to make ends meet, his wife Claudia Carbonara has stated. The couple has four children, four dogs and a mortgage of 1200 euros per month. Biot earns 3,000 euros a month and he did not consider cutting back on his children’s activities, such as dues to sports clubs, Carbonara said in an interview with the Italian newspaper. Corriere della Sera.
Carbonara, a psychotherapist herself, continues to believe in her husband’s good intentions. “Even if he actually did it, I’m sure he thought about it well and wouldn’t detract from the national interest. He’s not stupid, he was just desperate. ”
Their 24-year-old son and his adult sister tried to contribute financially, but working in the garden and cleaning swimming pools is not easy. The son suggests in the newspaper The Republic that his father may be suffering from “mental instability.”
Biot first came to court on Thursday, but was silent there. “He asked for time to gather his thoughts,” said his lawyer, Roberta Da Vita. Da Vita also stated that his client just wanted to make some money. A request to await trial under house arrest was denied.
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