A US citizen who was born in Russia and is presently in detention has reportedly been charged with espionage, according to the press service of a Moscow court, reports the Russian state news agency TASS.
According to TASS, Gene Spector is currently in prison after confessing to the charges of bribery.
Spector was reportedly born and reared in St. Petersburg before moving to the US and getting US citizenship, according to TASS. He presided over the board of the Medpolymerprom Group, which specialised in cancer drugs, according to TASS.
According to TASS, Spector was accused of arranging payments for Anastasia Alekseyeva, an ex-assistant of former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. According to TASS, Alekseyeva accepted payments worth more than 4 million rubles ($43,000), which included visits to Thailand and the Dominican Republic.
According to a US diplomat at the US embassy in Moscow, they think the US citizen is already imprisoned and that they are unaware of any fresh charges.
There is no evidence the US believes Spector is being imprisoned unlawfully.
The US is “aware of reports of charges against a US citizen in Russia,” according to a representative for the US State Department. They added that they were “monitoring the situation, but have no further comment at this time.”
Following President Vladimir Putin‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, tensions between the US and Russia increased, making efforts to free two additional US nationals who were held more difficult.
The State Department believes that Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for more than four years, and Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in March, were illegally detained. To ensure their release, the Biden administration has been working.
According to a source close to CNN, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone on Wednesday with Whelan, who is being imprisoned in a remote Russian prison camp.
When Whelan called, the top US ambassador reportedly advised him to “keep the faith and we’re doing everything we can to bring you home as soon as possible,” according to the source. According to the source, this is Blinken’s second conversation with Whelan. Another knowledgeable source informed CNN that the second phone chat between Whelan and Blinken took place on December 30.
The serious request that the Biden administration put forth for Whelan’s release more than eight months ago has been repeatedly reiterating to Russia. According to two administration officials who spoke to CNN, Russia has not made a significant response.
The Biden administration has been searching the world for proposals that could persuade Russia to release the two Americans who were illegally jailed, CNN reported earlier this year. According to current and former US officials, the US does not currently have any high-level Russian agents, necessitating the need to ask partners for assistance.