MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Russian citizen Yury Yeshchenko has been sentenced to 13 years behind bars for attempting to pass classified information to the CIA on the Northern Fleet’s prospective armaments, the Public Relations Center of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS on Friday.

"A citizen of the Russian Federation, Yury Alexandrovich Yeshchenko, was found guilty of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) by Bryansk’s regional court. According to the court ruling, Y. A. Yeshchenko was sentenced to 13 years behind bars at a high-security prison," the public relations center reported. The defendant admitted his guilt and acknowledged his offence in court.

The FSB noted that the defendant worked at an organization which provided maintenance and support for the radio-electronic systems of the Northern Fleet vessels in Severomorsk and decided to hand over to the US information on the prospective developments of the Russian military-industrial complex for material gain.

"In 2015-2017, he was systematically copying classified documentation on weapon systems used in the Northern Fleet," the FSB reported. According to the agency, in the beginning of 2019, he established contact with the CIA. The FSB public relations center specified that the defendant was detained by the FSB in the Bryansk Region during an attempt to hand over the classified information to a foreign intelligence service in July 2019. His sentence was announced on November 17.