An American citizen who is currently serving a 3.5-year prison sentence in Russia for bribery has recently been charged with espionage. Gene Spector, originally from St. Petersburg, admitted to bribing a former aide to Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich in 2020. Spector, who was the chairman of the board of directors of Medpolymerprom Group, a company specializing in cancer drugs, pleaded guilty in 2021 and received a four-year prison sentence. However, due to a technicality, he was retried and given a new 3.5-year sentence last September. The reason behind the espionage charge remains unclear, and the hearing took place behind closed doors with classified evidence, according to Reuters.
The US embassy in Moscow has stated that they have no information regarding the new espionage charge, as reported by CNN. The US State Department has acknowledged the situation but declined to comment further at this time. Spector is one of three Americans currently detained on espionage charges in Russia. Evan Gershkovich, a journalist with the Wall Street Journal, was arrested in Russia in March, while Paul Whelan, a former Marine, is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being arrested in Moscow in late 2018. The US government has declared both men to be wrongfully detained, but no similar statement has been made regarding Spector. (Read more Russia stories.)
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