Russian Engineer Sentenced to 16 Years for Spying for Ukraine

An engineer at a Russian tank manufacturing company has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for high treason after being convicted of providing military information to Ukraine, a court announced on Tuesday.

The regional court in Sverdlovsk stated that Daniel Mukhametov, 32, was employed as an engineer at Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, located in Russia’s Urals. He and his wife, Viktoria, were detained by Russia’s FSB security services in 2023.

Uralvagonzavod is one of the largest tank manufacturers in the world.

The court stated that Mukhametov and his wife, who was also employed at the company, were accused of “providing Ukrainian special services with military and technical information.”

Mukhametov “partially admitted his guilt” and was subsequently sentenced to 16 years in prison.

His wife, Viktoria Mukhametova, was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison in early October on the same charges, according to Russian news agencies.

This case is the latest in a series of espionage investigations that Russia has initiated since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Since then, thousands of people have been detained or fined for expressing opposition to the conflict in Ukraine.