Russia, Norway and Lithuania conducted a spy exchange today, the head of the Lithuanian counterintelligence agency said.

Earlier sources had reported that Moscow, Oslo and Vilnius were discussing the exchange of two Russians imprisoned in Lithuania, two Lithuanian and one Norwegian convicted in Russia for espionage.

Accordingly, Lithuania released two Russian spies, Nikolai Filipchenko and Sergei Moiseyenko, to Moscow. Russia also released two Lithuanians, Yevgeny Mataitis and Aristidas Tamosaitis, while Norwegian citizens Frode Berg was taken to the Norwegian Embassy in Vilnius. The exchange process is carried out at a border gate.

Filipchenko and Moiseyenko were both sentenced to 10 years in Lithuania on charges of trying to "recruit" officials. Meanwhile, two Lithuanian citizens were convicted of spying in Russia in 2016.

Frode Berg, 63, who worked on the Norwegian-Russian border, was detained in Moscow in December 2017 and sentenced to 14 years in prison after admitting gathering intelligence on the nuclear submarine.