Russia jails ex-US consular employee on security charges

A court in Russia's far east said on Friday it had convicted Robert Shonov, a former U.S. consular employee, of illegally and covertly cooperating with the U.S. government to harm Russia's national security and had jailed him for nearly five years.

Russia's FSB security service detained Shonov, a Russian national, in Vladivostok in May 2023 and accused him of taking money to covertly supply U.S. diplomats with information that was potentially harmful to Russia.

The U.S. on Saturday condemned the conviction, calling it "an egregious injustice".

"The allegations against Mr. Shonov are entirely fictitious and without merit," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

A court in the Primorsky region in Russia's far east confirmed in a statement on Friday that it had found Shonov guilty and had sentenced him to four years and 10 months in a penal colony.

Video of the verdict being read, released by the court, showed Shonov listening inside a courtroom cage as the judge sentenced him.

The FSB published a video in August 2023 showing a purported confession by Shonov in which he said two senior U.S. diplomats based in Moscow whom Russia later expelled had asked him to collect information about Russia's war effort in Ukraine, its annexation of "new territories", its military mobilisation and the 2024 Russian presidential election.

In the video, Shonov said he was told to gather "negative" information on these topics, to look for signs of popular protest, and to reflect these in his reports.

It was not clear whether he was speaking under duress.

Shonov was employed by the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok for more than 25 years until Russia in 2021 ordered the dismissal of the U.S. mission's local staff.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have plunged to their lowest level for decades over Russia's war in Ukraine.