(Reuters) – A Russian man was jailed for 17 years after being found guilty of passing classified information to a representative of a U.S. intelligence agency, the TASS state news agency reported on Thursday.
“The Moscow City Court found Dmitry Arkadyevich Shatresov… guilty of committing high treason in favour of the United States,” TASS cited Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying.
“It was established that Shatresov D.A., having obtained by illegal methods information which constituted state secrets, (and) guided by criminal intent, intended to transfer it to a representative of American intelligence.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shatresov’s lawyer declined to answer questions.
TASS reported that 40-year-old Shatresov, who was sentenced on Wednesday, lived in a city just outside the Russian capital and worked in logistics.
The press service for Moscow’s courts published photos and video of Shatresov, wearing glasses and a blue hooded sweatshirt, standing inside the defendant’s courtroom cage. In the video, he tried to shield his face from the camera.
Treason cases, held behind closed doors in Russia, hardly ever result in an acquittal, official statistics show.
Such prosecutions have risen sharply in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine, as intelligence agencies pursue a crackdown on suspected foreign agents and spies.
At least 792 people in Russia have been charged with treason, espionage or cooperating with a foreign state since the conflict began almost three years ago, according to Pervy Otdel (First Department), a Russian lawyers’ association.
(Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
