Russia Sentences Bashkortostan Native to 13 Years for Alleged Treason Tied to Ukrainian Intelligence

A Russian court has handed down a severe sentence to a native of Bashkortostan on charges of state treason. Ernest Sharafutdinov was sentenced to 13 years in a strict-regime penal colony by the Krasnodar Regional Court for allegedly transferring data to a representative of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) within the Ministry of Defense, Mediazona reported on October 23.

According to the outlet, citing Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Sharafutdinov, who allegedly opposed Russia’s policy and the invasion of Ukraine, reached out to a Ukrainian intelligence representative in March 2024 to agree on cooperation. He was then supposedly tasked with carrying out sabotage operations in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan.

The prosecution claims that a month later, while in the Krasnodar region, Sharafutdinov received coordinates for sabotage targets. However, he was reportedly “unprepared to personally commit the necessary actions.”

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Despite this, the indictment claims he still passed “current and reliable information about the location of industrial facilities” to the Ukrainian special services.

“Thinking he was acting in the interests of the Bashkirs and Tatars, he handed over information about the location of industrial facilities in the city of Kazan to a representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine,” the court's press service stated, according to Mediazona.

The investigation insisted that Sharafutdinov understood this information would be used for subsequent drone strikes against those facilities. The verdict is not yet legally final.

Earlier, a military court in Rostov-on-Don in Russia handed down an exceptionally long sentence to a Ukrainian soldier. Ihor Potapov, who served with the Azov brigade, was condemned to spend 28 years in a maximum-security penal colony.

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