Albania’s defense ministry said on Saturday that two soldiers were wounded while trying to stop two Russians and a Ukrainian who were trying to break into an arms factory in central Albania, Reuters reported.

“Three citizens with Russian and Ukrainian passports tried to enter the territory of the enterprise,” the agency said.

“Officers guarding the plant reacted immediately, but during their attempts to stop the three foreigners, two of our servicemen were injured,” the message says, adding that the condition of the fighters is stable.

The ministry said that three foreign citizens were detained.

These three are suspected of espionage

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said that three people are “suspected of espionage”.

The Ministry of Defense reported that one of the detainees, identified only as 24-year-old Russian M.Z., entered the plant and tried to take pictures.

The ministry said the man used some kind of spray against the soldiers when he tried to escape after being stopped by guards.

Two more people were detained nearby: a Russian woman identified as S.T., 33 years old, and a Ukrainian, F.A., 25 years old.

Kalashnikov machine guns were manufactured at the Albanian factory

Many Russian and Ukrainian tourists visit Albania during the summer holidays. The military base in Gramsha is 70 kilometers from the beaches.

During the communist era, the Albanian plant in Gramsha was used for the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles.

As reported on the ministry’s website, today the plant provides production services for the defense industry, without specifying the details.

Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009. In mid-June, a meeting between Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was held in Kyiv.