A previous worker of the U.S.
consulate in the Far East city of Vladivostok has actually been sentenced to 4 years and 10 monthsin prison for secret partnership with a foreign state, Russian state media reported Friday.Robert Shonov, a Russian person, had worked for more than 25 years at the U.S.
consulate.
He was forced to quit in 2021 whenRussian authorities enforced restrictions on local staff working for foreign missions.Afterward, Shonov worked as a personal specialist for the U.S.
Embassy in Moscow assembling press accounts from publicly accessible Russian media, according to the U.S.
State Department.He was apprehended in early 2023 on suspicion of passing secret information about Russias war in Ukraine to the United States in exchange for money.
However, Russian law enforcement authorities formally revealed his arrest just in September of that year.According to a ruling published on the Primorye region court site, 400,000 rubles ($4,103) and an electronic gadget connected to Shonovs personal contractor work were seized.In September 2023, Moscow expelled U.S.
Embassy employeesJeff Sillin and David Bernstein, whom itaccused of acting as intermediaries for Shonov.Russian-U.S.
relations have greatly degraded because President Vladimir Putin purchased the full-scale intrusion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Washington was forced tosuspendits 2 remaining consulates in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg before the wardue to Russian-imposed staffing rules.AFP contributed reporting.