Russia sentences US citizen to 15 years in prison on espionage charges

A Moscow court has on Tuesday sentenced a US citizen to 15 years in prison on charges related to espionage, according to state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

Gene Spector, who was born in Russia but later moved to the United States and received citizenship, had previously been sentenced to four years in prison in Russia for acting as an intermediary in a bribe, Russian state media said.

Independent Russian outlet Media Zona, who had a journalist inside the courtroom, reported that Spector was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on espionage charges. His previous charge for bribery was added to this term, meaning he was handed down a 15-year sentence, it reported, adding that Spector was also fined 14,116,805 rubles (around $140,500).

In 2020, Spector pled guilty to mediating bribes for Anastasia Alekseyeva, a previous aide to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, state news agency TASS reported.

Before this, Spector was the chairman of the board of directors of Medpolymerprom Group, specializing in cancer drugs, according to TASS.