Russia sentences former US Consulate worker to almost 5 years in prison

MOSCOW (AP) — A court in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former U.S. consulate worker accused of 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 main domestic security agency, the FSB, accused him of “gathering information about the special military operation” in Ukraine, a partial appeal. .. in the Russian regions and its influence on the “protest activities of the population in the run-up to the 2024 presidential elections”.

The US Embassy in Moscow condemned the sentence and dismissed the charges against him as “completely false and unfounded”.

“The prosecution of Mr. Shonov only underscores the campaign of intimidation that the Russian government is increasingly waging against its own citizens,” the embassy said in a statement.

Shonov was charged under a new article of Russian law that criminalizes “confidential cooperation with a foreign state, international or foreign organization to support their activities clearly aimed at the security of Russia.” Kremlin critics and human rights advocates said it was so broad it could be used to punish any Russian with foreign ties. It is punishable by up to eight years in prison.

The US State Department said last year that Shonov worked at the US Consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. CONSULATE closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has never reopened.

The State Department said that after a Russian government order in April 2021 required the firing of all local employees at US diplomatic outposts in Russia, Shonov worked at a company contracted by the US to support its embassy in Moscow.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in May 2023 that Shonov’s sole role at the time of his arrest was “to compile summaries of press articles from publicly available Russian media sources.”

Shonov was held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, notorious for its harsh conditions, pending investigation, but was tried at the Primorsky District Court in Vladivostok.

In addition to a prison sentence, which Shonov was forced to serve in a general regime penal colony, the court ruled that he must pay a fine of 1 million rubles (just over $10,000) and face additional restrictions for 16 months after the prison sentence ends. .