A court in Moscow has convicted a former policeman and sentenced him to 13 years in prison for passing state secrets to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday that Yevgeny Chistov admitted he was a CIA spy for three years and pleaded guilty to charges of treason.
Chistov was a police officer assigned to the Russian Interior Ministry's Moscow region, the FSB said.
"It was established that in 2011, Y.A. Chistov, while serving in the Russian Interior Ministry, proactively established contact with the CIA, acting out of mercenary interests," the security service said in a statement.
Chistov reputedly was recruited by U.S. intelligence to hand over work-related information, including state secrets, in return for "monetary compensation," it added.
Since the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2014, Russia has charged several people with high treason, espionage or disclosing state secrets.
In October, the FSB said a court had sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for allegedly spying for Ukraine.
In September, a former military intelligence engineer was sentenced to 14 years in prison for allegedly passing on state secrets by sending his resume to a Swedish organization.
