Former Russian worker at U.S. Consulate charged with spying for Washington

Russian officers stated a Russian nationwide and former worker of the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok spent months gathering details about Moscow’s struggle in opposition to Ukraine on behalf of the U.S. authorities. On Monday, the nation’s FSB safety service stated Robert Shonov has been charged with “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state.”

During his interrogation by the FSB, the report stated, Mr. Shonov, who was first detained by Russian authorities this spring, stated he was approached by U.S. Embassy staff who needed details about a wide range of nationwide safety subjects, together with navy mobilization efforts and the following Russian presidential election.

“I had to collect negative information about these events, find protest sentiment among the population, and report those,” Mr. Shonov stated, based on TASS, the official Russian information company.

The State Department condemned Mr. Shonov’s arrest in May 2023, saying the allegations in opposition to him have been “wholly without merit.” He is a Russian citizen who labored on the U.S. Consulate for greater than 25 years till Moscow ordered the termination of all native workers employed on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia.

“Mr. Shonov was employed by a company contracted to provide services to [the] U.S. Embassy in Moscow in strict compliance with Russia’s law and regulations,” the U.S. Embassy stated in a press release. “Mr. Shonov’s only role at the time of his arrest was to compile media summaries of press items from publicly available Russian media sources.”

The FSB, the successor company of the Soviet Union’s KGB, stated Mr. Shonov was engaged on behalf of at the least two U.S. diplomats within the Embassy’s political division. Russian officers stated they wish to query the 2 U.S. officers concerning the case in opposition to Mr. Shonov.

According to media experiences, Mr. Shonov is being held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison. Current detainees there embrace Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal reporter who’s accused of espionage — expenses the Biden administration and his employer strongly reject.