Russia Upholds 14-Year Sentence for Polish Citizen Accused of Spying

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Russia upholds 14-year sentence for Polish citizen accused of spying

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Monday 9/16/2019 - 11:46 UTC+3 | 193 words

Russia's Supreme Court has upheld a 14-year prison sentence for a Polish citizen convicted of spying, the FSB security service said on Monday.

A Moscow court in June found Marian Radzajewski guilty of trying to obtain military information that included Russian "state secrets" after a closed trial.

Russia's FSB security service said the Supreme Court had on Thursday ruled the sentence to be "legal and justified." 

The FSB has said that the Polish citizen tried to obtain "secret components of Russian S-300 air defence systems." 

It said Radzajewski was arrested as he was attempting to complete the transaction.

The FSB has accused Radzajewski of acting "in the interests of a Polish organisation that is a leading supplier of (Poland's) national armed and special forces."

Radzajewski was reportedly born in 1977 and was the director of a transport company in Bialystok, a city in northeastern Poland.

Spy convictions have increased in Russia in recent years. Many of them are related to Ukraine, but cases concerning Poland and the Baltic states are not uncommon.

In April, Russia sentenced a retired Norwegian border guard, Frode Berg, to 14 years in prison on spying charges.  

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