Russia sentences former U.S. Consulate worker convicted of “gathering information” on Ukraine war to prison

Moscow — A court in Russia’s far-eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former U.S. Consulate worker charged with cooperating with a foreign state and sentenced him to four years and 10 months in prison. 

Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok, was arrested in May 2023. Russia’s top domestic security agency, the FSB, accused him of “gathering information about the special military operation” in Ukraine, a partial call-up in Russian regions and its influence on “protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.”

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow condemned the sentence and rejected the charges against him as “completely false and unfounded.”

“The criminal prosecution of Mr. Shonov only underscores the campaign of intimidation the Russian government is increasingly taking against its own citizens,” the embassy said in a statement.

Shonov was charged under a new article of Russian law that criminalizes “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization to assist their activities clearly aimed against Russia’s security.” Kremlin critics and human rights advocates have said it is so broad that it can be used to punish any Russian with foreign connections. It carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.

The U.S. State Department last year said Shonov worked at the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. The consulate closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and, amid escalating tension between Moscow and Washington, never reopened.

The State Department has said that after a Russian government order in April 2021 required the dismissal of all local employees in U.S. diplomatic outposts in Russia, Shonov worked at a company the U.S. contracted with to support its embassy in Moscow.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in May 2023 that Shonov’s only role at the time of his arrest was “to compile media summaries of press items from publicly available Russian media sources.”

Shonov was held in the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, notorious for its harsh conditions, pending investigation, but stood trial in Vladivostok’s Primorsky District Court.

In addition to a prison term, which Shonov was ordered to serve in a general regime penal colony, the court ruled that he must pay a fine of 1 million rubles (just over $10,000) and face additional restrictions for 16 months after finishing his prison sentence.

While Shonov is a Russian national, Russian authorities have arrested numerous Americans and dual nationals in recent years on charges ranging from espionage to petty theft, with some cases related to Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

They include a 72-year-old American man identified as Stephen Hubbard who was sentenced in early October after being convicted of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. A judge at the Moscow City Court sentenced him to six years and 10 months in prison for  “participating as a mercenary in the armed conflict” after a brief trial held largely behind closed doors.

Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian national who was arrested while visiting family in Russia, was sentenced over the summer to 12 years in prison for donating around $50 to a Ukrainian organization.

Also over the summer, a major prisoner exchange was carried out with the U.S. that saw two high-profile American prisoners, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, freed in exchange for several Russians who were jailed in the United States and other countries — most of them with connections to Russian intelligence.

A previous swap saw Russia release WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December of 2022.