The USA "sternly" condemned today the prison sentence imposed on a former employee of the Russian consulate in Vladivostok, Russia, for alleged "secret cooperation with a foreign state".
"His conviction based on baseless allegations is a scandalous injustice," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
A court in Russia yesterday sentenced Robert Shonov, a former employee of the American consulate accused of cooperation with a foreign state, to four years and ten months in prison, Russian news agencies reported.
On September 14, 2023, Russia announced the expulsion of two American diplomats accused of serving as liaison agents to Robert Shonov. He was arrested in 2023 on suspicion of passing classified information to the US about the conflict in Ukraine.
The US State Department condemned the arrest last year and said the charges against the Shawns were "completely baseless".
Shonov was charged under a new article of the law that criminalizes "collaboration on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization to assist their activities that are clearly directed against the security of Russia."
A prison sentence of up to eight years is foreseen.
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 never reopened.
The State Department said that after the Russian government in April 2021 ordered the firing of all Russian citizens employed by US diplomatic missions, Shonov worked at a private company.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in May 2023 that Sean's sole role at the time of his arrest was "compiling press briefings from publicly available Russian media sources."
Shonov was in Lefortovo prison in Moscow, notorious for its harsh conditions, but was tried in the Primorsky District Court in Vladivostok. In addition to the prison sentence that Shonov received, the court ruled that he must pay a fine of one million rubles.
Miller added today that the Russian accusations are "completely false and baseless."
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