American imprisoned in Russia faces espionage charges, reports say

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian-born U.S. citizen already in prison on a bribery conviction now faces charges of espionage, according to Russian news agencies.

The reports said a Moscow court on Thursday authorized holding Gene Spector on the charges, but did not give details of the case against him.

Spector, formerly an executive at a medical equipment company in Russia, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison last September for enabling bribes to an aide to former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. The aide, Anastasia Alekseyeva, was sentenced to 12 years in April for taking bribes of two expensive overseas vacation trips.

Dvorkovich was a deputy prime minister under Dmitry Medvedev in 2012-2018. He is also board chairman of Russia’s state railways and head of the international chess federation FIDE.

There was no immediate comment from the United States about the report.