Former Russian Military Convicted for Espionage

A Russian military court convicted 55 year-old former colonel Sergei Skripal to 13 years in prison on Wednesday for allegedly selling intelligence to the British security services in order to discover many Russian agents who had infiltrated in certain organizations in Europe.

The news were confirmed by Anton Yeliseyev, an official at the Moscow District Military Court, who stated that Skripal had passed along secrets to the MI6 British intelligence service, being the second espionage case in which a Russian official sold information to Great Britain. The man is going to spend his sentence in a maximum security penal camp.

According to Sergei Fridinsky, the Russian chief military prosecutor, Skripal received fewer years than the 15 demanded by prosecutors, given the fact that he had pleaded guilty as charged and he had provided an important contribution to the investigation.

According to Izvestia newspaper, Skripal collaborated with the MI6 service for several years, during which he revealed the names of some dozens Russian agents working undercover in Europe. In turn, his activities had placed a great amount of pressure on the Russian espionage, as many officials admitted. In an interview with Russian news agency RIA-Novosti Yevgeny Komissarov, declared: "His activities caused a significant blow to Russia's external security". The state-run television in Russia compared Skripal's deeds with those of another famous Soviet double agent Oleg Penkovsky, who spied both for Great Britain and for the United States during the Cold War. Yet, unlike Skripal, Penkovsky was shot by a firing squad in 1963.

The same Izvestia newspaper stated that it is possible that Skripal may have received as much as 100,000 dollars from MI6 for his services. The Federal Security Service, modern day KGB, issued an official statement, declaring that Skripal had been called by the British intelligence at the beginning of the 1990s when he was still active within the army ranks. However, no further details were offered.