A former U.S. Consulate worker in Vladivostok, Russia, has been convicted and sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison for cooperating with a foreign state. The individual, a Russian citizen named Robert Shonov, was arrested in May 2023 on charges of gathering information related to the special military operation in Ukraine and its impact on protest activities leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
The U.S. State Department has denounced the arrest, asserting that the allegations against Shonov are baseless. He was charged under a new Russian law that criminalizes cooperation with foreign entities deemed detrimental to Russia's security, carrying a maximum prison term of eight years.
Shonov had worked at the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok for over 25 years until its closure in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a Russian government directive in April 2021 mandating the dismissal of local employees at U.S. diplomatic missions, Shonov transitioned to a role supporting the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
At the time of his arrest, Shonov's responsibilities involved compiling media summaries from publicly available Russian sources. He was detained at Lefortovo Prison in Moscow during the investigation but faced trial at the Primorsky District Court in Vladivostok.
In addition to the prison sentence to be served in a general regime penal colony, the court ordered Shonov to pay a fine of 1 million rubles (approximately $10,000) and imposed further restrictions for 16 months post-release.
