MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. The Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which brings together around 20 intelligence agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, encourages ordinary citizens to volunteer sensitive intelligence, an operative of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

"Five Eyes is a community of intelligence agencies from five Anglo-Saxon countries, comprising various intelligence services in the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The alliance’s goal is to gather intelligence worldwide, and its activities are driven by the common geopolitical objectives of member states," he pointed out in a video released by the FSB.

"One of the features of intelligence activities by the alliance’s agencies is their efforts to create conditions for so-called volunteer espionage by publishing related promotional materials online," the FSB officer added.

Earlier, the FSB reported that a 55-year-old resident of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East had been detained for allegedly passing information that could harm Russia’s security to New Zealand’s intelligence agency. According to the FSB, the man initiated contact with the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, a member of the Five Eyes alliance, and, motivated by financial gain, carried out tasks assigned by the foreign intelligence agency. He used foreign e-mail services and messaging apps to transmit information that could be used against Russia’s national security.

A criminal investigation has been launched against the suspect under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code ("High Treason").