RUSSIAN MILITARY COURT FINDS OFFICER GUILTY OF BEING CIA OPERATIVE AND IMPOSES SENTENCE

A Russian military tribunal handed down a conviction on the 10th of this month in the case of Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Nesterets, who had entered a guilty plea to charges of turning over classified information on Russian missiles to the CIA, and consequently decreed a 13 year prison term. According to the Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB, Nesterets was also subjected to loss of rank for providing the CIA with secret data regarding missile testing in exchange for monetary compensation. The security service linked the treasonous activities of Nesterets to his position as a senior engineer at the Plesetsk facility in northwestern Russia that the military employed in testing missiles and launching satellites. The agency did not indicate when the arrest of Nesterets occurred nor did it elaborate on the other specifics of the case.
The Nesterets conviction coincides with worsening American-Russian relations in the wake of the missile defense system currently being developed by NATO with the United States at the forefront, as well as Russia’s collaboration with China to deter a UN Security Council resolution calling for the resignation of President Bashar Assad of Syria. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has become more and more willing to provoke the United States as he endeavours to recapture the Russian presidency in March. He has asserted that America is orchestrating the vast protests of his regime so as to cripple his country. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin protégé, at the beginning of the month commended the Federal Security Service for uncovering 41 foreign intelligence officers and 158 operatives during 2011.