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Russia charged a 29-year-old U.S. telephone technician with espionage on Friday in what officials say is the first such case involving an American since the end of the Cold War, a Federal Security Service spokesman said. The spokesman said Richard Bliss, who was arrested in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Nov. 25, was formally charged with spying. The exact wording of the charges was not made public. Bliss had been in Rostov for two months working to install a telephone system when he was detained. He worked for the San Diego-based telecommunications company Qualcomm. The U.S. Embassy has said Bliss was not a spy, and Qualcomm said he was performing routine tests to help install a wireless telephone system.
