FSB says ex-diplomat sold state secrets to American intelligence
A Russian diplomat has received a 12-year sentence in a maximum security penal colony for selling state secrets to the United States.
Arseniy Konovalov, 38, was found guilty of treason, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday. He was arrested in March last year on suspicion of selling secrets to American intelligence.
Investigators said the exchanges took place during the former foreign ministry official’s posting to Russia’s consulate general in Houston, where he served as second secretary from 2014 to 2017.
Russian law enforcement authorities had not previously disclosed the diplomat’s arrest or any of the charges brought against him.
On Friday, the court found Mr Konovalov guilty of treason and also imposed a 100,000 rouble (£938) fine.
“It was established that AS Konovalov, an employee of the Russian foreign ministry, during a long-term foreign assignment in the United States, proactively transferred secret information to American intelligence for money,” the FSB, which heads Russian counter-intelligence, said in a statement.
The FSB did not disclose what material was allegedly passed, or identify the US agency involved. However, unverified reports circulating on Russian Telegram channels stated that Mr Konovalov had been recruited by the CIA during his posting in Houston.
Russian state media published FSB footage showing Mr Konovalov’s arrest last year as well as a later court appearance.
The clip showed the former diplomat looking worried as he was informed of the treason allegations before having his phone seized and being handcuffed and questioned in the back of a black van.
He was later led out of the vehicle and hauled into a holding cage in Moscow’s Lefortovo district court by masked officers.
There was no immediate comment from US intelligence agencies.
According to the civil society group Pervy Otdel (First Department), more than 470 people in Russia have been convicted of treason, espionage and secret cooperation with foreign bodies this year, making it a record year for convictions. At least 420 more were under investigation as of this month.
In the first half of 2025, Russian courts handed down an average of almost two guilty verdicts per day. Rights groups have said Moscow is using the charges to silence dissent and is imposing increasingly stringent penalties.
Four defendants in such cases this year were sentenced to life imprisonment and six to compulsory psychiatric treatment, while three died in custody. The median sentence in treason and espionage cases rose from 12 to 15 years between 2024 and 2025.
The surge in cases since 2022 has widely been linked to the invasion of Ukraine. About one-third of all cases relating to “treason” and “espionage” were brought against Ukrainian citizens.
Treason cases are often held behind closed doors in Russia. Not a single case in 2025 led to an acquittal.
The allegations against Mr Konovalov predate the full-scale invasion.
In January 2025, Dmitry Shatresov, a Russian citizen, was arrested and sentenced to 17 years in a high-security prison for “high treason” after allegedly obtaining state secrets in order to “transfer them to an American intelligence representative.”
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