A former Russian employee of the US consulate in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok has been sentenced to four years and ten months in prison for “secret collaboration with a foreign state,” Russian agencies said on Friday.
Robert Shonov worked for more than 25 years at the US consulate until 2021, when Moscow imposed restrictions on local staff working for foreign missions.
Afterward, he worked as a private contractor compiling press accounts from publicly accessible Russian media, according to the US State Department.
He was arrested this year on suspicion of passing secret information about Russia’s war in Ukraine to the United States in exchange for money.
According to the judgement published on the website of Vladivostok’s Primorye court, 400,000 roubles (€4,000) and an electronic device linked to the commission of the offence were seized.
In September 2023, Russia also expelled two US diplomats it accused of acting as liaison agents for Shonov.
According to Washington, Shonov had only been hired by the US consulate to carry out routine monitoring of freely accessible Russian media.
In recent years, several US citizens have been arrested and sentenced to long jail terms in Russia. Others are being held pending trial.
Washington, which supports Ukraine militarily and financially against
Russia’s invasion accuses Moscow of wanting to exchange them for Russians held in the United States.
The United States and Russia exchanged prisoners, including The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, in a landmark swap in August, but several US nationals and dual nationals remain in detention in Russia.
