A US citizen, Gene Spector, has been sentenced to 15 years in a Moscow court for espionage, as reported by state-run news agency RIA Novosti. Spector, who was born in Russia but later became a US citizen, had previously served a four-year sentence in Russia for acting as a bribe intermediary. Independent Russian outlet Media Zona, present during the court proceedings, stated that Spector received a 13-year sentence in a maximum security penal colony for espionage, with an additional two years added for the bribery charge, totaling a 15-year prison term. He was also fined 14,116,805 rubles (approximately $140,500).
In 2020, Spector admitted to facilitating bribes for Anastasia Alekseyeva, a former aide to ex-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, according to state news agency TASS. Prior to this, Spector held the position of chairman of the board of directors at Medpolymerprom Group, a company specializing in cancer drugs.
When Spector was charged with espionage in August 2023, a US official at the American embassy in Moscow confirmed that they believed he was already in custody and had no information on the new charge. Spector is among several US citizens who have received lengthy prison sentences in Russia this year.
In October, 72-year-old Stephen Hubbard, originally from Michigan, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Robert Woodland, a US citizen of Russian descent, received a 12-year, six-month sentence in a maximum-security penal colony in July for drug-related offenses. Additionally, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in prison in July on charges of spying for the CIA while stationed in Yekaterinburg in March 2023. Gershkovich was later released in a historic prisoner exchange between Russia and Western nations in August.
