Russian man sentenced to 23 years for treason; FSB says he spied for Polish intelligence
Russia's FSB says Georgy Pirogov, a Moscow region resident, was sentenced to 23 years in July for treason, allegedly collecting information for Polish intelligence. He was also accused of transferring cryptocurrency to support Ukraine's armed forces and procuring equipment for delivery to Ukraine.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said that Georgy Pirogov, a resident of the Moscow region, was sentenced to 23 years in prison in July on treason charges. According to the agency, he was collecting information for Polish intelligence.
The independent Russian outlet Mediazona reported Pirogov’s sentencing in mid-July, citing a source familiar with the ruling. The outlet said Pirogov moved to Georgia after Russia launched its full-scale war in 2022 and worked there as an industrial climber. In July 2024, he went to Kungrad, Uzbekistan, for work and then stopped communicating.
The FSB said Pirogov subsequently traveled to Poland, where he met a representative of Polish intelligence, who tasked him with collecting and passing on “secret information about advanced weapons models” that Russia is using in its war against Ukraine. According to the FSB, Pirogov had contacts among Russian defense industry employees and used them to obtain classified information about the production and use of missile systems, as well as personal data on people with access to state secrets, in order to recruit them for activities against Russia’s security.
The agency also claimed Pirogov transferred cryptocurrency to fund the Ukrainian armed forces and bought equipment that he arranged to have delivered from Poland to Ukraine.
It remains unclear where and how Pirogov was detained, and how he ended up back in Russia. The Moscow City Court heard his appeal on July 9; the Meshchansky District Court was the court of first instance. Court records show Pirogov’s pretrial detention was extended in September 2024, meaning the case had been under review for at least two years.
Russia increased the penalty for treason to life imprisonment in 2023. Before that, the maximum sentence was 20 years — less than Pirogov received. Historically, Russian courts occasionally handed down sentences above the legal maximum; for example, journalist Ivan Safronov was sentenced to 22 years on treason charges in a fabricated case.
