Russia Sentences Former US Consulate Employee to Prison for Nearly 5 Years

A. Russian court He found a former U.S. consulate employee guilty of conspiring with a foreign government and sentenced him to four years and 10 months in prison, according to the report.

Russian security services arrested Robert Shonov Russian citizen and former employee of the US consulate in Vladivostok, in May 2023 Associated Press He reported on Friday.

The US Embassy in Moscow rejected the accusations against Shonov as “completely false and unfounded”.

“The criminal prosecution of Mr. Shonov only highlights the intimidation campaign the Russian government is increasingly waging against its own citizens,” the AP reported in a statement from the embassy. he said.

Shonov worked at the US Consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. Ministry of Foreign Affairs in question.

Shonov was hired by a company contracted to provide services to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow after the Russian government ordered the closure of the consulate and the firing of all local employees in April 2021.

At the time of his arrest, the State Department said Shonov’s job was to compile media summaries of press issues from publicly available Russian media sources.