A US citizen is to spend the next 15 years in a high-security Russian prison following a spying conviction on Tuesday. Eugene Spector, who was born in the former Soviet Union and later moved to the US and received US citizenship, is already serving a three-and-a-half year sentence in Russia following a bribery conviction, per the New York Times. He returned to Russia as an adult and worked as an executive at a medical equipment company before he was detained in 2020. He later pleaded guilty to mediating bribes for an aide to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, reports CNN. In August 2023, it was announced Spector had also been charged with espionage, though no details were given.
On Tuesday, a Moscow court sentenced Spector to 13 years for espionage. But the time remaining in his bribery sentence was added on top, for a final sentence of 15 years, CNN reports. He was also fined just over $140,000, the outlet reports. The trial took place behind closed doors "due to the secrecy of the case materials," Russia's Interfax reported, per the Washington Post, adding "only the introductory and resolutive parts of the sentence were announced by the court." The sentence, which is a longer prison term than handed to some Russian murderers, has prompted "speculation that the Kremlin might seek to use him as leverage in negotiations for a future prisoner swap," per the Times. (More Russia stories.)
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