A Russian court has remanded a US citizen in an espionage case of which few details are known, Russian news agencies said Thursday, after several convictions of Americans in Russia.
According to the Interfax agency, this American of Russian origin, Gene Spector, is accused of espionage, has pleaded guilty and concluded an agreement to collaborate with the investigators. He faces up to 20 years in prison. The public agency Ria Novosti specifies that the case has been classified and its details are not known.
In September 2022, Gene Spector had already been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for “corruption” in a case involving a former assistant to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who was also convicted by the courts. A first conviction in 2021 in this corruption case was overturned on appeal and returned to court for further review in July 2022.
According to the TASS agency, Gene Spector was born and raised in Russia before settling in the United States, from which he obtained nationality. He held the post of chairman of the board of directors of the Russian group of companies Medpolimerprom.
In recent years, several American citizens have been arrested and sentenced to heavy sentences in Russia, with Washington accusing Moscow of wanting to exchange them for Russians detained in the United States.
In December 2022, American basketball player Brittney Griner, convicted in Russia of cannabis trafficking charges, was released against Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer prisoner in the United States.
American journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal was arrested in March while reporting in Yekaterinburg in the Urals. He is accused of espionage, charges he denies.
