Russia jails man for 12 years for alleged aid to Ukraine

A Russian court in the annexed Crimean peninsula has sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for filming Russian military sites intended to help the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian news agencies reported Thursday.

Since sending troops into Ukraine, Moscow has targeted hundreds of its own citizens who it says aided or supported kyiv throughout the two-year conflict.

The Supreme Court of Crimea said it had found a man born in 1991, a resident of the Saky district, “guilty of high treason,” Russian official news agencies reported, citing the court's press service.

Prosecutors said the man “made videos of the operation of an air defense system and commented on its location in order to assist the Ukrainian armed forces,” the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

They claim he then sent the images to a Ukrainian chatbot created to collect information on Russian military targets.

Russia has opened a record number of treason cases in 2023, independent rights groups say, after toughening laws and increasing sanctions as part of its offensive against Ukraine.

Ukraine has heavily targeted Crimea, which Moscow annexed from kyiv in 2014, launching multiple missile and drone strikes against the peninsula since Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022.