Russia sentences ex-US consulate worker five years in prison

FE Team | Published: November 01, 2024 21:33:47

MOSCOW, Nov 01 (AP): A court in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former US Consulate worker charged with cooperating with a foreign state and sentenced him to four years and 10 months in prison.
Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and former employee of the US Consulate in Vladivostok, was arrested in May 2023. Russia's top domestic security agency, the FSB, accused him of "gathering information about the special military operation" in Ukraine, a partial call-up in Russian regions and its influence on "protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election."
The US State Department last year condemned the arrest and said the allegations against Shonov "are wholly without merit."
Shonov was charged under a new article of Russian law that criminalizes "cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization to assist their activities clearly aimed against Russia's security." Kremlin critics and human rights advocates have said it is so broad that it can be used to punish any Russian with foreign connections. It carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.
The State Department has said Shonov worked at the US Consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. The consulate closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened.