A former U.S. Consulate worker in Vladivostok, Russia, has been convicted and sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison for cooperating with a foreign state. The individual, a Russian citizen named Robert Shonov, was arrested in May 2023 on charges of gathering information related to the special military operation in Ukraine and its impact on protest activities leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
The U.S. State Department has denounced the arrest, asserting that the allegations against Shonov are baseless. He was charged under a new Russian law that criminalizes cooperation with foreign entities deemed detrimental to Russia's security, carrying a maximum prison term of eight years.
