Man sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for cooperating with Ukraine

A Moscow region resident has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for providing Ukraine with information about the location of a Russian military site and planning terrorist attacks, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Tuesday.

The man was accused of having photographed in April 2024 the site of an anti-aircraft defence system in Podolsk, some 40 km south of Moscow, and of sending the images and geographic data "to his Ukrainian mentors to guide a drone attack against the military site", according to a statement from the Committee.

The man was also accused of sending weapons from Ukraine to Russia in 2017 to prepare attacks in several Russian regions, including the border regions of Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod, the source said. A Russian military court found him guilty of preparing an attack, arms trafficking and complicity in terrorist activities, for which he was sentenced to 16 years in prison, the committee said.

Since the Russian assault on Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has launched a massive crackdown on its critics and prosecutions for “treason”, “terrorism”, “extremism”, “sabotage” or “espionage” have proliferated. In addition to the “treason” prosecutions, thousands of people have been sanctioned, threatened or imprisoned in Russia since 2022 for their opposition to the conflict in Ukraine.

dmr