Russia arrests US citizen on espionage charges: report

close Video

White House calls for more aid as Russia continues to shell key Ukrainian cities

Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot reports live from Kyiv on the latest news emerging from the Russia-Ukraine war. 

An American citizen of Russian origin has been arrested in Russia upon accusations of espionage, according to local reports. 

Russian news agencies said Gene Spector was taken into custody and had previously been convicted in a bribery case against the former assistant to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. He was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for that alleged offense.

“The court granted the request of the investigation to detain US citizen Spector on charges under Article 276 (espionage) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” the state-owned Tass news agency reported. 

GERMANY RENEGES ON PLEDGE TO MEET NATO SPENDING TARGET: REPORT

The Grand Kremlin palace, left, and the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow. An American citizen who was born in Russia has been detained on espionage charges, according to local news reports.  (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department and the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. 

Spector was born and raised in Leningrad, but later moved to the United States and became a citizen, TASS reported. 

He was the chairman of the board of directors of the Medpolymerprom Group of Companies, which specialized in drugs for cancer. He was previously accused of mediating the transfer of bribes to Anastasia Alekseeva, Dvorkovich’s ex-assistant.

Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and former senior official at the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), told Fox News Digital that Russia continues to “hunt for Americans on Russian soil who can be imprisoned for any possible pre-text.”

“Why? Because Joe Biden’s naiveté encourages this sort of hostage diplomacy. It works every single time,” she said. “The Russians are able to compel the Biden Administration to exchange ordinary Americans for high-value assets such as the former GRU military intelligence officer nickname Merchant of Death, Victor Bout.” 

This combo of images shows Viktor Bout, left, a suspected Russian arms dealer at the criminal court in Bangkok, on Aug. 20, 2010 and WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner, right, in a courtroom prior to a hearing, in Khimki, outside of Moscow, Russia, on July 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, left, and Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Bout was exchanged for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was imprisoned in Russia for 10 months following her arrest at an airport for bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil in vape cartridges into the country. The exchange drew heavy criticism because was serving a 25-year sentence in U.S. prison after being convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to deliver anti-aircraft missiles, and aiding a terrorist organization.

In April, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart to release two Americans being held in Russian prisons,  Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is being detained on espionage allegations, as well as Paul Whelan.  

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested for alleged spying, listens to the verdict in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2020. The Biden administration on Thursday, April 27, 2023, sanctioned Russia’s Federal Security Service and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence organization for wrongfully detaining Americans.  (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Whelan has been detained since 2018 on spy charges his supporters say are baseless. Relations between Washington and Moscow have been tense following Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine and the U.S. continued supply of military aid to Kyiv. 

“Biden’s White House traded Bout for Britney Griner. Next, the Russians arrested Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal Reporter,” Koffler said. “A few days ago the Biden Administration struck another misguided prisoner exchange deal, with Iran. The Russians know how to push Biden’s buttons.”

Koffler, who was born in the former Soviet Union and authored “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” noted that Russia typically charges American with espionage because it carries long prison sentences, which makes that American a high-value candidate for an exchange. 

Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to louis.casiano@fox.com.