A judge in Moscow has sentenced a Russian man to 23 years in prison after finding him guilty of treason for allegedly spying for Poland, Russia’s FSB security service said Friday.
Georgy Pirogov was handed the sentence along with a fine of 800,000 rubles ($9,500). The FSB’s statement, which was shared by state media outlets, came more than a month after the exiled news outlet Mediazona, citing an anonymous source, first reported the verdict in mid-July.
According to independent media reports, Pirogov relocated to Georgia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine to work as an industrial climber. He vanished in July 2024 during a business trip to Uzbekistan and resurfaced days later inside Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention facility.
Neither Russian nor Uzbek authorities have explained how Pirogov was detained or transferred across international borders.
FSB video shared by the state-run news agency TASS on Friday showed Pirogov’s interrogation, during which he admitted to working with Polish intelligence. He was also shown being escorted into a courthouse and listening to his prison sentence being read.
The FSB claimed Pirogov initiated contact with Polish military intelligence after fleeing Russia. Security officials accused him of using contacts in the Russian defense sector to collect classified data on advanced missile systems and gathering personal information on individuals with security clearances.
The law enforcement agency further alleged that Pirogov made cryptocurrency transfers to the Ukrainian military and purchased and delivered ammunition from Poland to Ukraine.
