(ANSA) - ROME, APR 2 - Russia's ambassador to Italy on Friday said he hoped a case of alleged spying in Rome would not hurt relations between the two countries.
    On Tuesday night an Italian navy captain, Walter Biot, was caught allegedly passing NATO telecoms documents to a Russian embassy official for 5,000 euros.
    The embassy official and the Russian naval attaché have been expelled from Italy in the case.
    "This incident arouses deep sorrow, as does the decision by the Italian side to declare two officials 'persona non grata' ," Ambassador Sergey Razov said in an interview on Rainews24.
    "As I stressed during my meeting with the heads of the Italian foreign ministry, we trust that this incident will not negatively influence the broadly constructive relations between our two countries, you have to have a wider view, they are broadly articulated relations that cannot absolutely be reduced to single unpleasant episodes", said Razov.
    The judge who remanded Biot in custody Thursday night said Tuesday's incident was not an isolated one and that he had unscrupulously betrayed Italian institutions by using four smartphones and other ruses to pass many top secret documents to the Russians.
    Bio's wife said he had been driven to take Russian money because he was desperate over family finances, unable to meet mortgage payments and fund the activities of their four children, one of them seriously handicapped, as well as their four dogs. (ANSA).