In the actual article link it quotes Russian govt. officials saying they arrested them for treason, and for giving secrets to a US Intelligence Agency that wasn't the CIA.
I do appreciate skepticism in response to claims, but please do read through the article first before contesting.
As I'm not, though - my point was the current Russian regime is not constrained by niceties like the rule of law and accusing enemies, real or perceived, of being nefarious agents of a foreign power is their favourite thing. So 'this guy was an American spy' is already a fairly shaky foundation, 'the arrest of this particular guy caused this change in US policy' is a reach bordering on baseless speculation. We just don't have any good way of knowing how much or any of this is true.