Moscow: Russia's secret service has detained two US citizens, one an employee of oil firm TNK-BP, on charges of industrial espionage after a raid of the company's headquarters.

The Federal Secret Service (FSB) said the men, who also hold Russian citizenship, were 'illegally gathering classified commercial secrets to procure for foreign oil and gas companies competitive advantage over Russian competitors in the CIS market'.

The FSB identified the men arrested as brothers Alexander Zaslavsky, head of the British Alumni Club, and Ilya Zaslavsky, an employee of the British-Russian petroleum firm TNK-BP.

The British Council, a state associated cultural organization whose legal status in Russia is sorely debated, specified that Zaslavsky was not one of its employees, but said, "The British Alumni Club are valued contacts so we are obviously concerned."

The two brothers were detained March 12 in an attempt to secure classified information, which constitute commercial secrets, from a Russian citizen, who was an employee at guarded state oil and gas facility, according to a statement by FSB.

The FSB said that a raid of TNK-BP's Moscow headquarters a day earlier, fuelling media speculation that the company is being targeted for state control, had been related to its criminal investigation into the spy charges.

"During the raid, proof confirming the charges of industrial espionage was found and seized," the FSB statement said, citing materials as copies of Russian state documents, analytical reports on its energy resources and the business cards of employees of foreign military agencies and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

TNK-BP is the result of a 2003 merger of British petroleum firm BP and the Alfa Group, a consortium of Russian billionaire investors.

A TNK-BP company representative said Thursday it was "working as usual", and stressed that the company would always be "ready to cooperate with law enforcement bodies".

Source : IANS