Russian jailed 23 years for spying for Poland

A Russian court has handed down a 23-year prison sentence to Georgy Pirogov, a Russian citizen found guilty of espionage for Poland. The Moscow City Court's verdict, which has become legally binding, states Pirogov supplied Poland with details on Russian armaments and missile systems.

According to Russia's FSB security service, Pirogov contacted Polish military intelligence in April 2022 while in Poland, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He allegedly gathered information on advanced Russian weapon and missile systems used in the conflict.

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The conviction verdict issued by the Moscow City Court against citizen of the Russian Federation Georgy Vladimirovich Pirogov, born in 1989, involved in cooperation with Polish special services, has entered into force.

However, reports from the independent Russian outlet Meduza suggest a different sequence of events. Meduza stated Pirogov left Russia for Georgia after the 2022 invasion and worked as an industrial climber. His contact was lost in July 2024 when he traveled to Uzbekistan for a business trip. He was later found to be held at Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina detention center. His relatives told the "Politzek-Info" initiative that Pirogov was abducted, as he had planned to return to Georgia after his trip to Uzbekistan.

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According to the FSB, after the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Pirogov left the country. Then, in April 2022, while in Poland, he established contact with Polish military intelligence and, on its orders, obtained information about advanced Russian weapon systems and missile systems used in the conflict.

This case follows similar incidents involving Russians living abroad. Meduza recalled the 2023 disappearance of activist Lev Skoryakin, who was accused of hooliganism and imprisoned in Moscow but later managed to flee to Germany. Another opposition activist, Rafail Shepelev, disappeared in Georgia in 2023 and was later found in a detention center in Russia, where he was deemed mentally unfit and sent for compulsory treatment.

Since the full-scale war in Ukraine began, Russian courts have increasingly issued verdicts without revealing all details, often holding closed-door trials. This sentencing comes shortly after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on August 7 that Polish services had detained a Russian citizen tasked with assassinating a US and Ukrainian citizen deemed inconvenient for Russia.

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He was kidnapped.