IT specialist from Tajikistan sentenced to 13.5 years in Russia on charges of working for the CIA

Illustrative photo from open sources

Russian authorities on Tuesday, October 29, sentenced an information technology specialist to 13.5 years in prison on charges of attempting to pass state secrets to the CIA, Russian state media reported.

The Moscow City Court found IT specialist Firuz Dadoboev “guilty of treason in favor of the United States,” the TASS news agency reported, citing the FSB, the Associated Press reports. 

The report said Dadoboev worked in IT at a Moscow company, was originally from Tajikistan, and had dual citizenship.

The FSB said Dadoboev illegally obtained information constituting a “state secret” and planned to pass it on to an American intelligence officer.

To this end, he allegedly established contact with the CIA. Dadoboev was detained by FSB officers in October 2022 and has since “repented” of his actions.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

Let us recall that since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian authorities have repeatedly handed down harsh sentences on charges of treason.

In the first six months of 2024, the number of sentences on charges of treason reached a record high in the Russian Federation. According to calculations by the publication “Important Stories”, during this period, 52 people were convicted under the article on treason, which is 3.5 times more than in the same period in 2023 (in total, 39 convicts received sentences under this article for the entire last year).

The publication also reports a significant increase in sentences under the article related to espionage. In the first half of each year of the last six years, Russian courts have handed down no more than two verdicts in espionage cases, but in the first six months of 2024, this figure has grown to 18. Two more people during this period were sentenced for confidential cooperation with a foreign state, one of the new articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Prepared by: Sergey Daga