Russia convicts ex-policeman for CIA spying

A former Moscow policeman was convicted on Thursday of spying on behalf of the CIA and sentenced to 13 years in a federal penal colony.

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Evgeny Chistov acted on “selfish motives” and “proactively established contact with the CIA” in order to pass along secret information from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. 

{mosads}In exchange for the information, which included state secrets, the CIA paid him cash over the course of three years, the FSB said.

Chistov pleaded guilty to the charges of high treason during a hearing, the internal security service added.

The CIA declined to comment on the case.

The conviction comes amid a long period of simmering tension between the U.S. and Russia, following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its more recent foray into the battlefield of Syria.

In September, President Obama sat down with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the first time in more than a year.