U.S. Slams Prison Sentence Against Ex-Consulate Worker In Vladivostok

The United States has blasted a decision by Russian authorities to sentence a former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok to a lengthy prison term on charges Washington has called baseless.

“The United States strongly condemns Russia’s conviction and sentencing of Robert Shonov, a former employee of U.S. Mission Russia,” the State Department said in a statement on November 2.

“The allegations against Mr. Shonov are entirely without merit, and his conviction is an egregious injustice.”

The statement said Shonov’s “targeting under the ‘confidential cooperation’ statute highlights the Kremlin’s blatant use of increasingly repressive laws against its own citizens.”

The Primorye regional court in Russia’s Far East on November 1 sentenced Shonov to four years and 10 months in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of 1 million rubles ($10,280) on charges of “confidential collaboration with a foreign state.”

After completing his prison sentence, Shonov will have to spend an additional year and four months under parole-like restrictions.

Shonov, 62, had previously worked for 25 years at the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok, which closed in 2020.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) alleges that from September 2022 until his arrest in spring 2023, Shonov served as an “informant for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.”

His purported activities included collecting information on Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and mobilization efforts, as well as analyzing their potential impact on public protest activities in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.

The charges against him stem from a law enacted in July 2022 that criminalizes “confidential collaboration” with foreign entities.

This legislation carries penalties ranging from three to eight years in prison, and its broad language often encompasses interactions with foreigners perceived as undermining Russian national security, with accusations frequently linked to connections with Ukraine.

This case occurs against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between Moscow and Washington, which are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

The Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has prompted waves of severe sanctions against Russia and much of its leadership, further straining diplomatic ties.

Shonov’s conviction underscores the heightened scrutiny faced by former diplomatic staff and the increasingly hostile environment for foreign nationals operating in Russia.

The detention of foreigners is increasingly being seen as politically motivated, with the potential for these individuals to become bargaining chips in future prisoner swaps./RFE-RL/