Russia sentenced former US consulate employee to almost 5 years in prison

MOSCOW – A court in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former US consulate employee accused of collaborating with a foreign government 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 internal security agency, the FSB, accused him of “collecting information about a special military operation” in Ukraine, a partial challenge. in the regions of Russia and its impact on “the protest activity of the population on the eve of the 2024 presidential elections.”

The US State Department last year condemned the arrest and said the charges against Shonov were “completely unfounded”.

Shonov is charged under a new article of Russian law that criminalizes “collaboration on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization for the purpose of facilitating their activities clearly directed against the security of Russia.” Kremlin critics and human rights advocates say the law is so broad that it could be used to punish any Russian with foreign ties. This carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.

The State Department said Shonov worked at the US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. The consulate closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has not reopened.

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

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

Shonov was held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, notorious for its harsh conditions, until the investigation was completed, but was put on trial in the Primorsky District Court in Vladivostok.

In addition to the prison term that Shonov was sentenced to serve in a general regime colony, the court ruled that he must pay a fine of 1 million rubles (just over $10 thousand) and receive additional restrictions for 16 months after serving his sentence. .