Two Russians and a Ukrainian tried to break into an arms factory in Albaniawounding two soldiers who thwarted them, the Albanian Defense Ministry said last Saturday evening.

“Three citizens with Russian and Ukrainian passports tried to enter the plant” in the central Albanian city of Grams, the ministry said.

“The officers reacted immediately, but when trying to stop three foreign citizens, two of our servicemen were injured,” he added, explaining that the three attackers were detained.

According to the Ministry of Defense, a 24-year-old Russian citizen with the initials M.Z. entered the factory and tried to take pictures.

After being spotted, he “used a nerve spray on two guards” to escape. Then he was arrested.

The other two perpetrators, a 33-year-old Russian woman identified by the initials S.T. and a 25-year-old Ukrainian with the initials F.A. were also arrested on the territory of the plant.

Two Albanian soldiers were taken to a hospital in Tirana with eye injuries.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the three were “suspected of espionage”.

Military police, intelligence and counter-terrorism services arrived at the scene to investigate the incident.

In the past, the Russian AK-47 rifle was produced at this plant. Now, according to the website of the Albanian Ministry of Defense, it is used to dismantle old weapons. Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009.

^{Sources: APE-MPE, REUTERS, AFP.}