KRASNODAR – The Krasnodar Territorial Court pronounced a sentence on a local resident charged with spying for a foreign state on July 2, the court press service said.
“The trial of Andrei Pikula, born in 1991, who is charged with handing over state secrets to a representative of a foreign state (Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code) has come to an end,” the press service said.
The defendant pleaded guilty as charge. The court met in camera, the press service said.
By the totality of mitigating circumstances, the defendant was given a penalty milder than prescribed by the law – he was sentenced to eight years in a high-security penitentiary and stripped of the military rank of reserve lieutenant.
Russia reports that in fall 2018, a foreign intelligence service agent gave the defendant a guarantee of registration in the foreign state, solution of daily problems and general patronage in exchange for state secrets.
In fall 2019, Pikula gathered the information and passed it over to the foreign intelligence service agent.
An informed source told Interfax that Pikula was recruited by the Ukrainian intelligence.
