FSB claims U.S. citizen imprisoned on espionage charges helped Pentagon gather data to develop ‘genetic screening system’ for Russians

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused U.S. citizen Gene Spector, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on espionage charges, of collecting information for the Pentagon to help develop a “genetic screening system” for Russians.

“Acting in the interests of the Pentagon and an affiliated commercial organization, the American gathered and transferred various biotechnological and biomedical information, including state secrets, to aid the United States in creating a high-speed genetic screening system for Russia’s population,” the FSB said in a statement quoted by Interfax.

Details of the case against Spector had not previously been disclosed, and the trial was held behind closed doors.

Spector, who was born in Russia, is a former chairman of the board of directors at the Medpolymerprom Group. He was arrested in February 2020 on charges of mediating a bribe to Anastasia Alekseyeva, an aide to former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. In September 2022, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined 14 million rubles (approximately $135,000).

In August 2023, Spector was arrested again, this time on espionage charges. On December 24, a Moscow court found him guilty and sentenced him to 15 years in a high-security prison.