Russia jails Romanian for 'spying' for Ukraine

A Russian court jailed a Romanian man for 15 years after having convicted him of spying for Ukraine, the court's press service said Thursday.

AFP was not able to immediately verify the defendant's name.

The accused reached out to Ukrainian military intelligence in November 2024, the court service in the southern Krasnodar region said in a statement.

He then collected information about the location of an air defence system in the southern city of Sochi "using a quadcopter," the statement added.

"He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, to be served in a maximum security penal colony," the court service said.

Russia has arrested several foreign citizens for spying since launching its Ukraine offensive in February 2022. Russia's relations with Romania, an EU member, have deteriorated since the war began.