A Ukrainian man was sentenced to 12 years in jail by a court in a Russian border region on Thursday on espionage charges related to providing military intelligence to Ukraine’s secret services.
Since it began its full-scale military attack in February 2022, Russia has detained and imprisoned dozens of people on suspicion of working with the army and intelligence services of Ukraine.
“The court found that the defendant was engaged by the Ukrainian intelligence services to collect and transfer information about the presence of Russian armed forces on the territory of the Bryansk region,” the court said in a statement on Telegram.
Northern Ukraine is on the other side of the border in Russia’s Bryansk area. It has seen many drone and mortar strikes, as well as a pro-Ukrainian militia’s cross-border incursion last year.
According to the Bryansk courts office, the unnamed offender entered a guilty plea and the trial was held behind closed doors.
A court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don sentenced a Ukrainian to eleven and a half years in prison on Wednesday for attempting to purchase “top secret” missile components, according to Russian state media.
Charges of espionage led to sentences for both men.
