A man in Crimea sentenced to 21 years in prison for alleged links to Ukraine’s intelligence

A Russian court has sentenced a resident of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea to 21 years in prison on charges of “treason.”

According to reports, the 48-year-old man, who was detained in 2022, allegedly worked for Ukraine’s Security Service, SBU. Russian authorities claim he was passing information about the locations of Russian military personnel and their fortifications to Ukrainian intelligence.

Russian prosecutors argued he was also plotting  to set fire to one of the local government offices in Sevastopol.

The name of the convicted person has not been disclosed while the claims made by Russian authorities cannot be independently verified.

Since 2014, at least 20 Ukrainian citizens have been convicted in Crimea and Sevastopol on charges of “espionage” and “sabotage.” After its 2022 invasion, Moscow cracked down on people with anti-war sentiments in Crimea.

In 2023 alone, Russian officials filed at least 98 criminal cases related to treason, 31 on espionage, and 19 on collaboration with foreign states. According to estimates from “Sibir.Realii publiciation, 88 such cases have reached the courts, with guilty verdicts already issued in 50 of them.