US authorities have arrested 22-year-old soldier Taylor Adam Lee from Texas on charges of attempting to pass classified national defense information to a foreign country and violating export laws, the US Department of Justice said.

“According to the indictment, the defendant attempted to pass confidential information related to national defense about the functioning of the M1A2 Abrams, our country's main battle tank, to Russia,” said US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg, according to the BBC.

The FBI said the soldier allegedly attempted to pass secret information to a person he believed to be a Russian intelligence officer in exchange for Russian citizenship.

According to court documents, Lee had access to top-secret information and had been trying to establish contact with the Russian Ministry of Defense since May 2025.

In June, he allegedly transmitted technical information about the Abrams tank via the internet, and in July, he personally met with “a person he believed to be a representative of the Russian government” and handed him an SD card containing the information.

According to the US Department of Justice, on July 31, Lee left one of the tank components in a storage facility in El Paso, Texas, after which he wrote to his contact: “Mission accomplished.”