A Russian court has sentenced American citizen Gene Spector to 15 years in a penal colony on charges of espionage, according to Russian news agencies.
The court’s decision was reported on Tuesday.
Over recent years, Russia has detained and convicted several US citizens and dual nationals on espionage charges, some of whom have been released in prisoner swaps.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was sentenced for espionage in July but was released in August.
Moscow City Court handed down the sentence to Spector, who will serve the 15 years in a strict-regime penal colony.
The sentence also takes into account a prior conviction he received for bribery.
RIA Novosti published a photograph of Spector in the courtroom, seated in a defendant’s cage, wearing glasses and a dark jacket.
Details regarding the espionage allegations against Spector have not been made public.
The trial, apart from the sentencing, was conducted behind closed doors due to the classified nature of the case.
Spector, born Yevgeny Mironovich in 1972 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), is a US citizen who had previously lived in Russia. He is married and has children.
He was arrested in 2020 and, in 2021, was sentenced to four years in prison for his role as an intermediary in a bribery case involving luxury holidays for an aide to former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
After a retrial, his sentence was reduced by six months.
TASS news agency reports that Spector, originally from Russia, later moved to the US where he became a citizen.
He was previously the general director of the Medpolimerprom company group in Russia.
