Russia gives former US Consulate employee nearly 5-year jail term

moscow — A Russian former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok has been sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison for "secret collaboration with a foreign state," Russian agencies said Friday.

Robert Shonov worked for more than 25 years for the U.S. Consulate until 2021, when Moscow imposed restrictions on local staff working for foreign missions.

Afterward, he worked as a private contractor compiling news accounts from publicly accessible Russian media, according to the U.S. State Department.

He was arrested this year on suspicion of passing secret information about Russia's war in Ukraine to the United States in exchange for money.

According to the judgment published on the website of Valdivostok's Primorye court, $4,343 and an electronic device linked to the commission of the offense were seized.

In September 2023, Russia also expelled two U.S. diplomats it accused of acting as liaison agents for Shonov.

According to Washington, Shonov had only been hired by the U.S. Consulate to carry out routine monitoring of freely accessible Russian media.

In recent years, several U.S. citizens have been arrested and sentenced to long jail terms in Russia. Others are being held pending trial.

Washington, which supports Ukraine militarily and financially against Russia's invasion, accuses Moscow of wanting to exchange them for Russians held in the United States.

The United States and Russia exchanged prisoners including The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in a landmark swap in August, but several U.S. nationals and dual nationals remain in detention in Russia.