Russian government official arrested for treason
Russian authorities are investigating a government official accused of treason and could sentence him to 20 years in prison.
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Aexander Vorobyov in court on July 5. Photo:TASS. |
Alexander Vorobyov, assistant to the Russian president's envoy to the Urals, was arrested on July 5 on charges of treason. This is the first public case of a government official being arrested on suspicion of treason in post-Soviet Russia.
The Lefortovsky District Court in Moscow said the official would be held in custody for two months while Russian authorities conduct an investigation. If convicted, Vorobyov could face up to 20 years in prison, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said, without providing further details.
Mr. Vorobyov, 39, served for a year as an assistant to President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Nikolai Tsukanov. Before that, Mr. Vorobyov held various positions in the provincial government of the Kaliningrad region, in Russia’s far west.
In February 2019, the Russian Supreme Court also sentenced former Navy Lieutenant Commander Dmitry Dolgopolov to 10 years in prison for treason after the FSB caught Dolgopolov spying for Ukraine in September 2017 in the city of Simferopol.
