Russia sentenced US citizens to 15 years in prison for espionage

Russia sentenced US citizens to 15 years in prison for espionage

A Moscow court sentenced a US citizen to 15 years in prison on Tuesday, according to the state-related news agency Ria Novosti.

background to the case of gene spector

gene Spector, who was born in Russia and later moved to the United States, received the US citizenship. According to reports of Russian state media, he was previously sentenced to four years in prison because he acted as an intermediary for bribes.

Details of the conviction

The independent Russian news source Media Zona, who had a journalist in the courtroom, reported that Spector was sentenced to 13 years in a high -security sentence for espionage. This punishment was expanded to increase the priority for bribery, so that he had a total of 15 years. He was also occupied with a fine of 14.116,805 rubles (about $ 140,500).

previous allegations and professional background

In 2020, Spector admitted bribery for Anastasia Alekseyeva, a former employee of the former Russian Vice Prime Minister Arkady Dvorskovich, reported TASS. Before these allegations, Spector was the chairman of the board of the Medpolymerprom Group, which specializes in the production of cancer medication.

US reaction to the arrest

A US official of the American embassy in Moscow explained CNN in August 2023 when the indictment was raised for espionage against Spector that the US citizen was already in prison and they had no information about new charges.

The reporting on this case was also made up by CNN’s Radina Gigova, Matthew Chance and Katharina Krebs.